Antibiotic Utilization for Surgical Prophylaxis in a Tertiary Care Teaching Rural Hospital

Rational antibiotic prophylaxis reduces the incidence of surgical wound infection. Improper antibiotic prophylaxis leads to excessive surgical wound infection and increased drug resistance. There is an urgent need to establish and implement antibiotic policy but it cannot be done if baseline data is not available. In this study, the authors gathered baseline data about the pattern of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis in their institute. They found that most of the perioperative use of antibiotics was not as per standard guidelines in terms of choice of antibiotics and total duration of treatment. Interventions are warranted to promote the development, dissemination, and adoption of evidence-based guidelines for antibiotic surgical prophylaxis.