Review of the Appropriateness of Surgical Antimicrobial Prophylaxis
Nehad J. Ahmed *
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacy College, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia and Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacy College, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia.
Ziyad S. Almalki
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacy College, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia.
Abdul Haseeb
Clinical Pharmacy Department, College of Pharmacy, Umm AlQura University, Saudi Arabia.
Azmi Ahmed Hassali
Discipline of Social Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia, Malaysia.
Amer H. Khan
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacy College, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aim: This review aims to describe the appropriateness of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis during the last decade.
Methodology: The review included a searching web of science for articles focused on “the appropriateness of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis”. The searching process was conducted on 29 Nov 2020 and included original articles so the review articles were excluded.
Results: The review included 57 articles; 38 articles were published after 2015 and the rest before 2015. Most of the articles that were included in the review showed a high rate of inappropriate surgical prophylaxis and showed inappropriate duration and time of the antibiotics used.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that the rate of surgical prophylaxis inappropriateness was high and the main cause for this result was inappropriate timing and duration. Numerous interventions including educational interventions such as one-time seminars and online e-learning modules are needed to improve the adherence to the guidelines.
Keywords: Antimicrobial stewardship programs, appropriateness, surgery, surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis.