Abstract
Objective: To evaluate prophylactic postoperative antibiotic use in elective soft tissue hand surgeries.
Design: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Setting: King Hamad University Hospital, Bahrain.
Method: Retrospective review of 309 patients undergoing elective soft tissue hand surgery from 2012 to 2015. One hundred fifty-nine (51.5%) of these patients received postoperative prophylactic antibiotics while 150 (48.5%) did not. The records were reviewed for the type of procedure performed, comorbidities, use of postoperative antibiotics, outpatient visits and associated complications.
Result: One hundred fifty-nine (51.5%) patients (group I) received postoperative prophylactic antibiotics and 150 (48.5%) did not (group II). Four (1.3%) patients had infection (3 from group I and 1 from group II). One (0.3%) patient had deep surgical site infections and 2 (0.6%) patients had superficial surgical site infections, all received postoperative antibiotics. The P-Value obtained was 0.63.
Conclusion: Our study failed to demonstrate a benefit of prescribing prophylactic postoperative antibiotics to patients undergoing elective soft tissue hand surgery. Unwarranted antibiotic administration may pose harm to the patient as gastrointestinal side effects, allergic reactions and/or antimicrobial resistance.