Type and Rate of Prophylactic Antibiotic Use in the Orthopedic Patients Underwent Elective Surgeries in Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Babol

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Postoperative infection has been one of the most frequent problems in orthopedics that the prescription of antibiotics to prevent surgical infection is an effective strategy to reduce infections after surgery.The aim of this study was investigating type and amount of prophylactic antibiotics used in the orthopedic cases administered in Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Babol, northern Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 450 traumatic and non-traumatic patients underwent elective orthopedic surgeries and received antibiotic prophylaxis during 2015-2016. The necessary data were collected from the patients' records using a predesigned checklist. This checklist consisted of demographic information, type and mechanism of trauma and information related to prophylaxis (name of antibiotic, dosage, administration method, time to start prophylaxis, administration intervals and overall prophylaxis duration). FINDINGS: Out of 450 patients, 300 (66.7%) were male and others were female. The mean age was 42.37±21.53. The most commonly used antibiotic was cefazolin (n=437, 97.3%) and gentamycin (n=276, 62%), and the lowest was amikacin (n=8, 1.8%). Mean duration of use was 4.92±1.8 days, ranging from 1 to 15 days. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the use of prophylactic antibiotics is high and they should be administered with more precise control. The most commonly used antibiotic for prophylaxis was cefazolin and the least was amikacin.