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I N F E C T I O N
P R E V E N T I O N
Are Your Antibiotics
On Time, Every Time?
Readers share their best
practices for dosing on
the dot.
David Bernard
Senior Associate Editor
Are your patients getting their pre-op antibiotics on time? Here's how your colleagues are beating the
clock.
Make it someone's job
Assign the delivery of antibiotics to a designated staffer, perhaps rotating the responsibility by day, to create ownership and accountability.
At Hyde Park Surgery Center in Austin, Texas, the OR circulator starts antibiotics on the way to the operating room, says Jami Osterlund, RN, administrative director. The anesthesia provider at the Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center in St. Charles, Ill., starts the antibi
Carol Cappella, Delray Beach (Fla.) Surgery Center
IV DELIVERY Assigning
antibiotic administration
to a particular staffer or
linking it to required steps
can keep it on time.