Compliance of antibiotic prescriptions to the antibiotic policy in surgical cases at an Indian tertiary care hospital
Background/ Objectives: The use of antibiotics in all kinds of medical treatments has increased tremendously in the past few years. Many tertiary care hospitals have developed guidelines and protocols on antibiotic usage but are unable to achieve targeted compliance and the desired outcome. This study aims to assess the status of antibiotic prescription and compliance with the hospital antibiotic policy during surgical cases. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out for a period of 2 months by passive file auditing of the patients’ record. Findings: The results obtained show 84.8 % compliance with respect to the choice of antibiotic, 90.4 % to indication, and prophylactic antibiotic was given in only 51.2 % amongst the 122 surgical cases. With respect to the time within which antibiotics were given it was found that in 10.4 % it was given more than 2 hours of surgery being started, in 26.4 % it was given in less than one hour and for the remaining 63.2 % that data was not recorded properly. The mean duration of administering the antibiotic was 6.29 hours with SD of 5.20 hours with a median of 4 hours. Novelty: The study highlights the lacunae and flaws amounting to the non-compliance to the antibiotic policy in surgical cases and suggests that most of the tertiary care hospitals too need an implementable policy than a perfect policy. Keywords: Antibiotic; assessment; compliance; prescription; surgical cases