Antibiotics Discontinued Within 24 Hours After Surgery End

Preventive antibiotics should be stopped within 24 hours after surgery. Antibiotics are often given to patients before surgery to prevent infection. Taking these antibiotics for more than 24 hours after routine surgery is usually not necessary. Continuing the medication longer than necessary can increase the risk of side effects such as stomach aches and serious types of diarrhea. Also, when antibiotics are used for too long, patients can develop resistance to them and the antibiotics won’t work as well.

The types of surgery that are currently measured for use of preventive antibiotics at SBUH are: coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), heart valves and other heart procedures, hip replacement, knee replacement, colon surgery, abdominal and vaginal hysterectomy, vascular surgery, and any other type of inpatient surgery.

At SBUH, 94% of a sample of 354 eligible surgical patients had their antibiotics discontinued within the recommended time after surgery.

A high score is better than a low score.

	The SBUH 2008-2009 score is for the period October 2008 to September 2009. The SBUH 2009-2010 score is for the period October 2009 to September 2010.
	The New York State average score summarizes the average of health care organizations throughout New York State reporting to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the period October 2009 to September 2010.
	The U.S. average score summarizes the average of health care organizations throughout the United States reporting to CMS for the period October 2009 to September 2010.
	Top 10% score summarizes results from the best 10% of health care organizations reporting to CMS for the period October 2009 to September 2010.

See our results over time

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