Assessment of antibiotic use and impact of an intervention intended to modify the prescribing behaviour in surgical prophylaxis in 6 hospitals in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Mexico

Background Improper use of antibiotics increases antimicrobial resistance. Objective Evaluate the use of antibiotics and the impact of an intervention designed to improve antibiotic prescription for surgical prophylaxis in 6 hospitals of Monterrey, Mexico. Material and methods Design : A prospective multicenter survey and a pretest–postest experimental study. Phase 1: Survey to evaluate the use of antibiotics through an especially designed guide. Phase 2: Intervention designed to improve antibiotic prescription for surgical prophylaxis by the medical staff by using printed, audiovisual and electronic messages. Phase 3: Survey to evaluate the impact of the intervention. Analysis: Frequencies, percentages, medians, ranges and χ 2 test. Results Phase 1: We evaluated 358 surgical patients, 274 prophylactic antibiotic regimens. A total of 96% of antibiotics regimens began with inappropriate timing (290/302), 82.8% were inappropriate regimens (274/331), 77.7% were in inappropriate dosage (230/296), 86% of inadequate length (241/280), and in 17.4% restricted antibiotics were used (52/299). Phase 2: 9 sessions including 189 physicians (14 department chairs, 58 general practitioners and 117 residents). Phase 3: We evaluated 303 surgical patients, 218 prophylactic antibiotics regimens. Inappropriate treatment commencement was reduced to 84.1% (180/214) ( p < 0.001), inappropriate regimens to 75.3% (162/215) ( p = 0.03), inappropriate dosages to 51.2% (110/215) ( p < 0.001), and use of restricted antibiotics to 8.3% (18/215) ( p = 0.003). Conclusions Inappropriate use of prophylactic antibiotics in surgery is a frequent problem in Monterrey. The intervention improved the antibiotic prescription for surgical prophylaxis by reducing inappropriate treatment commencement, regimens, dosages, and overuse of restricted antibiotics. It is necessary to strengthen strategies to improve the prescription of antibiotics in surgical prophylaxis.