Prospective study of antibiotic protocols for managing surgical site infections in children.

PURPOSE

We adopted antibiotic (Ab) protocols for managing surgical site infections in children and assessed their effectiveness.

METHODS

We used our protocols on 1313 children between 2004 and 2005. All wounds were monitored for 30 days and classified as clean, clean-contaminated, contaminated, or dirty-infected. Infections were defined as superficial, deep, or organ/space. A retrospective study involving 721 children who had surgery in 2003 was also performed. Chi2 statistical analysis was performed.

RESULTS

Postprotocol, all Abs were administered accurately by anesthesiologists and infections developed in only 22 cases (1.7%): 0.2% (clean), 2.6% (clean-contaminated), 5.8% (contaminated), and 20.8% (dirty-infected), respectively; 21 were superficial or deep and 1 was organ/space. Age at surgery and sex did not influence incidence, neither did length of surgery for clean-contaminated, contaminated, and dirty-infected wounds; clean wounds were excluded because all surgery was minor. Overall, incidence of infections was 1.2% for elective surgery and 4.5% for emergency surgery (P < .01). Preprotocol, only 67% had Ab and infections developed in 27 cases (3.7%), which is significantly higher than in postprotocol (P < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

Accurate administration of Ab and careful supervision by an infection control team appear to be effective for preventing wound infections in children.