Rahil Rahman, Aasma Arshad.
Assessment of Surgical Prophylaxis in Pakistani Patients Undergoing Abdominal or Pelvic Surgeries: The Results of the NASPAK Registry.
Pak J Surg Jan ;31(1):29-35.

Background: Surgical site infections (SSI) cause signifi cant morbidity amongst surgical patients. Th ere is scant literature on surgical antibiotic prophylaxis in Pakistan. Th is study was designed to determine nationwide rate of surgical prophylaxis administration in patients and compliance to surgical prophylaxis guidelines. Materials & Methods: Th is observational cross-sectional study was conducted between May, 2009 and June, 2010. Consecutive adult patients undergoing elective abdominal & pelvic surgeries were included from 32 hospitals (22 Public/ 10 Private). Results: Data of 917 of the 1006 patients enrolled was analyzed. Prophylactic antibiotic administration was universal (99%) with intravenous route administration being 97.4%. Prophylactic dose was administered within one hour in 62% patients and 18% received at the time of incision. Cephalosporins (81%) were most commonly administered for prophylaxis with third generation cephalosporins being administered in 57.6% patients. On an average, antibiotics were administered for 3.7 (± 2.3) days. Out of 40 participating surgeons, half followed surgical prophylaxis guidelines; British guidelines (17.5%) and local hospital protocols (12.5%). Half did not commit adherence to any specifi c surgical guideline. Conclusion: Surgical antibiotic prophylaxis is universal. Th ere is a need to develop local hospital guidelines for surgical prophylaxis including appropriate use of antibiotics.

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