According to the research article on “Compliance with surgical antibiotic prophylaxis at an Australian teaching hospital” (Friedman, Styles, Gray, Low, & Athan 2013, p. 71) the use of certain antibiotics and or combinations for prevention of surgically related infections has shown to be an effective method in prevention of surgical site infections. The focus of the research was to measure to effectiveness of prophylactic use of antibiotics in regards to surgical procedures such as cardiac, orthopedic joint replacements, and colorectal procedures. The American Journal of Infection Control listed the following key elements of focus which were “(1) receipt of prophylaxis within 1 hour before surgical incision, (2) administration of an antimicrobial agent consistent with published guidelines and (3) discontinuation of SAP within 24 hours after surgery” (Friedman et al., 2013). The research was conducted at a teaching hospital in Victoria, Australia. The time span that the data was collected took 33 months total. The data gathered in …show more content…
Optimal is when the antibiotic regimen parallels with set guidelines, adequate classification entails antibiotics that are sufficient for treatment but however do not follow guidelines, and inadequate simply means it is not meet requirements to be used as a prophylactic medication. Broad spectrum antibiotics fall under the adequate category, whereas narrow spectrum antibiotics are considered optimal choices per guidelines. The time in which the antibiotics where given were monitored and depending if the medication was administered within 1 hour of the surgical incision it would be deemed acceptable or unacceptable. The length of time the antibiotic was given post-surgery was deemed acceptable if given less than 24 hours and unacceptable if it exceeded 24 hours (Friedman et al.,