462 Empirical Antibiotic Prescribing in General Surgical Patients

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Prescribing antibiotics is common practice on a standard general surgical take, however incorrect prescribing can result in sub-standard care or even patient harm. This audit loop was conducted to assess the adherence to local antibiotic prescribing guidelines to evaluate and improve practice. Method Data was collected prospectively against a pre-designed proforma over a 2-week period. Inclusion criteria were patients admitted on the general surgical take and were prescribed empirical antibiotics. This process was repeated after the first audit and a) a questionnaire on prescribing behaviours b) An educational presentation. Results Antibiotic indication and bleep number were generally well documented, above 86% and 77% respectively in both audit cycles. Duration of antibiotic was poorly documented overall and requires further improvement. The most significant improvement was in documentation of signature and a printed name. The questionnaire revealed that 70% of doctors were unaware of the importance of printing name as well as a signature on prescription, after educational intervention the rate of printed and signed scripts improved from 23% to 70%. Conclusions Significant improvement was noted in doctors printing their name compared to the initial cycle. These results highlight the importance of informing the junior doctors of the benefits of printing their name on prescriptions.