Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are serious health care problems, increasing treatment costs, prolonging hospital stay, and even leading to permanent disability and death. Fortunately, it can be prevented by appropriate antibiotic prophylaxis for surgical procedures. Hai Phong International Hospital was established in 2015 with more than 500 patient beds and over 450 surgeries each month, serving many patients with high quality. However, up to now, there have not been any specific reports related to the use of antibiotics in surgical patients at the hospital. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the status of prophylactic antibiotic use in surgery patients at Haiphong International Hospital in 2021. Methods: A descriptive retrospective study was conducted using medical records of all surgery patients at three surgery departments (General
Urology and Orthopedic Surgery) at Haiphong International Hospital, Vietnam, in 2021. Results: The study included 186 surgery patients without preoperative infection. The median age of patients in the study was 46 years old with the range of 34-60. Orthopedic and urologic procedures were the most common surgery with 30.6% and 26.3%, respectively. The most commonly used antibiotics were Ampicillin/Sulbactam (41.9%) Metronidazole (27.4%)
Cefazolin (24.7%)
Ciprofloxacin (22%)
Cefoperazole (14%). The time of administering the antibiotic was mostly within 30 minutes after closing the incision (49.5%). The duration of antibiotic use after surgery ranged from 1 to 28 days, of which 73.1% used from 8 to 14 days. The overall appropriateness of prophylactic antibiotic use was very low with only 1.6%. The main problems were prolonged prophylactic duration (98.4%), inappropriate antibiotic selection (83.3%), inappropriate administration time (66.7%), and inappropriate antibiotic dosage (50.5%). Conclusion: The overall appropriateness of prophylactic antibiotic use was very low. The main problems were prolonged prophylactic duration, inappropriate antibiotic selection, inappropriate administration time, and inappropriate antibiotic dosage. Therefore, developing the guidelines for surgical prophylactic antibiotics in the hospital is necessary to prevent surgical site infections and antibiotic resistance.