Prophylactic Intraoperative Antibiotic Dosing in Head and Neck Surgery: Opportunities for Improvement and Future Study

To investigate rates of Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) guideline adherence with regard to intraoperative antibiotic prophylaxis in head and neck surgery with free tissue transfer.Retrospective case series.A single academic center.All patients who underwent mucosa-violating head and neck oncologic surgery with free tissue transfer between March 2017 and June 2019 were reviewed. Intraoperative antibiotic data included type, dosage, frequency of administration, and duration. Any deviation from SCIP recommendations was defined as nonadherence. Antibiotic type was categorized as ampicillin-sulbactam, cefazolin/metronidazole, clindamycin, and others. As a secondary exploratory analysis, postoperative infections were analyzed and stratified by adherent vs nonadherent and by antibiotic type.A total of 129 surgical procedures were included. The mean ± SD number of antibiotic doses during surgery was 3.16 ± 1.2. The mean number of missed doses was 1.86 ± 1.65. Adherence rate with first dosing recommendation was 100%, as compared with 41.7% for dose 2, 23.1% for dose 3, 13.7% for dose 4, 5.26% for dose 5, 2.56% for dose 6, and 0% for dose 7 (P < .001). Ampicillin-sulbactam (6.4%) had a significantly lower rate of average redosing adherence when compared with cefazolin/metronidazole (73.2%) and clindamycin (63.3%; P < .001).Significant opportunities exist in SCIP guideline adherence rates for intraoperative antibiotic prophylaxis. Cefazolin/metronidazole had a significantly higher rate of appropriate redosing when compared with ampicillin-sulbactam, which should be considered when choosing a prophylactic antibiotic regimen and performing antibiotic-based outcomes studies. More attention should be given to intraoperative antibiotic prophylaxis in head and neck surgery with free tissue transfer, as this presents an opportunity for quality improvement and future study heretofore not explored.