Prophylactic antimicrobial therapy in surgery: a point evaluation of practices.

Compliance of prophylactic antimicrobial therapy (PAMT) in surgical patient s with consensus-based recommendations was evaluated at the Montfermeil Hos pital Center, France, in 1996, based on data for given days. All patients w ho had surgery on the study days were included. Data on the patient, surger y, and PAMT were collected. Practices were evaluated based on seven criteri a: need for PAMT, type of drug used, dosage, time of first administration i n relation to the time the incision was made, time of administration during surgery, administration time schedule, and total duration. Of the 93 patie nts who had surgery on one of the five study days, 59.1% received PAMT. All seven evaluation criteria were met in 68.2% of cases. Failure to adhere to the recommended time of first administration was the most common form of n oncompliance.