Protocol implementation in hospital infection control practice: an Italian experience of preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a protocol implemented to induce behavioural modifications in healthcare workers (HCWs). A preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis protocol for surgical procedures in clean and clean-contaminated wounds was used. The study was conducted in a 300-bed Italian university hospital between 1998 and 1999. The protocol's impact was analysed by retrospective examination of the clinical records for selected common surgical procedures. The study also investigated the reasons for the low compliance with the protocol through a focus group methodology. We examined 723 surgical procedures and the overall compliance was 30.8% (56/182) before the implementation of the protocol and 45.2% (76/168) after 1 year (P< or = 0.01). During the same period compliance with the use of antibiotics increased when antibiotics were recommended by the protocol (5/115 vs. 19/109, P< or = 0.01) and use decreased when they were not (51/67 vs. 57/59, P< or = 0.01). As reported in the focus groups, reasons for low compliance included hospital policy weaknesses in protocol definition and implementation and the cultural behaviour of HCWs. Our results reinforce previous findings that monitoring the effectiveness of protocol implementation in the medical care setting is essential. Critical points that might increase the effectiveness of protocol implementation have also been identified.