Purpose: This study aims to determine the effectiveness of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program based on a Clinical Pathway (CP) to improve appropriateness in perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis (PAP).
Materials and methods: This pre-post quasi-experimental study was conducted in a 12 month period (six months before and six months after CP implementation), in a tertiary Pediatric Surgical Centre. All patients from 1 month to 15 years of age receiving one or more surgical procedures were eligible for inclusion. PAP was defined appropriate according to clinical practice guidelines.
Results: Seven hundred sixty-six children were included in the study, 394 in pre-intervention and 372 in post-intervention. After CP implementation, there was an increase in appropriate PAP administration, as well as in the selection of the appropriate antibiotic for prophylaxis, both for monotherapy (p = 0.02) and combination therapy (p = 0.004). Even the duration of prophylaxis decreased during the post-intervention period, with an increase of correct PAP discontinuation from 45.1 to 66.7% (p < 0.001). Despite the greater use of narrow-spectrum antibiotic for fewer days, there was no increase in treatment failures (10/394 (2.5%) pre vs 7/372 (1.9%) post, p = 0.54).
Conclusions: CPs can be a useful tool to improve the choice of antibiotic and the duration of PAP in pediatric patients.
Keywords: Antimicrobial stewardship; Clinical pathway; Pediatric surgery; Perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis.