Compliance of perioperative antibiotic dosing and surgical site infection rate in office-based elective surgery

Abstract

Background: A best practice goal to reduce surgical site infection includes administration of antibiotics in the ideal preoperative window. This article evaluates an office surgical suite antibiotic administration rate and compares it with the timing of a local hospital treating a similar patient population. The hypothesis was that similar or better compliance and surgical site infection rates can be achieved in the office-based suite. Methods: A total of 277 office-based surgeries were analyzed for antibiotic administration time before incision and their corresponding surgical site infection rate. Results: Our facility administered timely prophylactic antibiotics in 96% of cases with a surgical site infection rate of 0.36%. This rate was significantly lower than a reported rate of 3.7%. Conclusion: Low infection rates with high antibiotic administration rate suggest that compliance with best possible practice protocols is possible in the outpatient setting.