To audit clinical practice and implement an intervention to promote appropriate use of perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis (PAP).

Prospective multicenter before-and-after study.

This study was conducted in 7 surgical departments of 3 major Greek hospitals.

Active PAP surveillance in adults undergoing elective surgical procedures was performed before and after implementation of a multimodal intervention. The surveillance monitored use of appropriate antimicrobial agent according to international and local guidelines, appropriate timing and duration of PAP, overall compliance with all 3 parameters and the occurrence of surgical site infections (SSIs). The intervention included education, audit, and feedback.

Overall, 1,447 patients were included: 768 before and 679 after intervention. Overall compliance increased from 28.2% to 43.9% (P = .001). Use of antimicrobial agents compliant to international guidelines increased from 89.6% to 96.3% (P = .001). In 4 of 7 departments, compliance with appropriate timing was already >90%; an increase from 44.3% to 73% (P = .001) and from 20.4% to 60% (P = .001), respectively, was achieved in 2 other departments, whereas a decrease from 64.1% to 10.9% (P = .001) was observed in 1 department. All but one department achieved a shorter PAP duration, and most achieved duration of ~2 days. SSIs significantly decreased from 6.9% to 4% (P = .026). After the intervention, it was 2.3 times more likely for appropriate antimicrobial use, 14.7 times more likely to administer an antimicrobial for the appropriate duration and 5.3 times more likely to administer an overall appropriate PAP.

An intervention based on education, audit, and feedback can significantly contribute to improvement of appropriate PAP administration; further improvement in duration is needed.

Active daily surveillance of central-line days (CLDs) in the assessment of rates of central-line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) is time-consuming and burdensome for healthcare workers. Sampling of denominator data is a method that could reduce the time necessary to conduct active surveillance.

To evaluate the accuracy of various sampling strategies in the estimation of CLABSI rates in adult and pediatric units in Greece.

Daily denominator data were collected across Greece for 6 consecutive months in 33 units: 11 adult units, 4 pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), 12 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and 6 pediatric oncology units. Overall, 32 samples were evaluated using the following strategies: (1) 1 fixed day per week, (2) 2 fixed days per week, and (3) 1 fixed week per month. The CLDs for each month were estimated as follows: (number of sample CLDs/number of sampled days) × 30. The estimated CLDs were used to calculate CLABSI rates. The accuracy of the estimated CLABSI rates was assessed by calculating the percentage error (PE): [(observed CLABSI rates − estimated CLABSI rates)/observed CLABSI rates].

Compared to other strategies, sampling over 2 fixed days per week provided the most accurate estimates of CLABSI rates for all types of units. Percentage of estimated CLABSI rates with PE ≤±5% using the strategy of 2 fixed days per week ranged between 74.6% and 88.7% in NICUs. This range was 79.4%–94.1% in pediatric onology units, 62.5%–91.7% in PICUs, and 80.3%–92.4% in adult units. Further evaluation with intraclass correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman plots indicated that the estimated CLABSI rates were reliable.

Sampling over 2 fixed days per week provides a valid alternative to daily collection of CLABSI denominator data. Adoption of such a monitoring method could be an important step toward better and less burdensome infection control and prevention.