RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To investigate and analyze the perioperative prophylactic use of antimicrobial agents in 118 hospitals in China. METHODS: 3557 medical records (from September to December, 2006) of 118 hospitals were drawn out randomly. The perioperative prophylactic use of antimicrobial agents was investigated and analyzed. RESULTS: Prophylactic antimicrobial agents were used in 3485 cases (98%). The first 3 kinds of antimicrobial agents most in use were cephalosporins of 3rd generation (1775/3485, 50.4%), 2nd generation (1191/3485, 34.2%) and fluoroquinolones (1120/3485, 34.1%). The average durations of antibiotic use were 7.4 d for class I (clean) wounds 7.6 d for class II (clean/contaminated) wounds and 10. 5 d for class III (contaminated) wounds. Only 30.4% of patients received antibiotics within 2 h prior operation, and 52.2% of patients did not received antibiotics until the operation was completed. There were no indications for prophylactic antibiotic use in 16.7% of cases. Combining use of antimicrobial agents were performed in 56.5% of cases, and 22.1% of them lack of reasonable indications. CONCLUSIONS: Inappropriate use of perioperative prophylactic antimicrobial agents is common and must be subjected to standardization.