Auto‐Substitutions to Optimize Perioperative Antimicrobial Prophylaxis: Pre‐Post Intervention Study

Abstract

BackgroundAppropriate administration of perioperative antibiotics can prevent antimicrobial resistance, adverse drug events, surgical site infections, and increased costs to the health care system for many surgeries in Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS).ObjectiveThe objective of the study is to achieve 90% compliance with evidence‐based perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines among elective surgical procedures in OHNS.MethodsThe pre‐intervention group consisted of patients undergoing elective surgical procedures in the 13 months prior to the interventions (September 2019–2020) whereas the post‐intervention group comprised patients undergoing elective procedures during the 8 months following the implementation (October 2020–May 2021). The 4 Es of knowledge translation and the Donabedian framework were used to frame the study. Components of the intervention included educational grand rounds and automatic substitutions in electronic health records. In June 2021, a survey of staff and residents assessed the self‐reported perception of following evidence‐based guidelines.ResultsCompliance with antimicrobial prophylaxis guidelines were evaluated based on agent and dose. The overall compliance improved from 38.8% pre‐intervention to 59.0% post‐intervention (p < 0.001). Agent compliance did not improve from pre‐ to post‐intervention, that is, 60.7% to 62.8%, respectively, (p = 0.68), whereas dose compliance improved from 39.6% to 89.2% (p < 0.001). Approximately 78.5% of survey respondents felt that they strongly agreed or agreed with always following evidence‐based antimicrobial prophylaxis guidelines.ConclusionCompliance with antimicrobial prophylaxis guidelines improved, primarily due to increased dosing compliance. Future interventions will target agent compliance and selected procedures with lower compliance rates.Level of Evidence3 Laryngoscope, 133:3403–3408, 2023