Free Custom «Antibiotics Prior to Surgery» Essay Paper

An antibiotic is a medicine, which limits the multiplication of microorganisms. It is also referred to as antibacterial, and is meant to curb the infections brought about by bacteria. One dose of antibiotics used before the surgery is known to stop the infection that might come up during the actual surgery. Its effectiveness is the same as a 24-hour regimen of dosing, which also minimizes the cost incurred for antibiotics. It is crucial to note that, cases of infections during surgery pose a considerable problem despite the increased understanding of its prevention and the advancement of technology as far modern surgery is concerned.

Once these antibiotics are administered on an appropriate time, they are known to stop the infections that are normally brought about by the wounds from a given surgery. In cases where the antibiotics are used for the sole purpose of preventing infections, as opposed to being used in treating an infection, they are referred to as a prophylactic. Antibiotics are extremely vital in every surgery for their effectiveness in curbing the infections from surgical sites. If the antibiotics are not properly used, infections are known to recur later on, after the implant is placed. Once this condition occurs the patient ends up incurring much cost than the initial surgery cost. In case of surgical site infection, the patient ends up using thrice the amount used during surgery.

 

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The statistics carried out by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) clearly show that roughly about 500,000 infections caused by the surgical site are annually experienced in the United States. These infections have a negative result to patient's health, in that, they reduce one’s life quality accounting for about 3.7 million more days in hospital, and resulting to over $1.6 billion annual expense. This cost comes about because of re-admittance to the hospital. It is estimated that about 60% of patients with surgical site infection have a high chance of being taken back to the intensive care. They also have a high susceptibility of dying as compared to those patients that are free from surgical infection (Perencevich EN, 2003).

The purpose of using the antibiotic prophylaxis is ensuring effective tissue level and the serum for drugs in the period of the surgery. Statistics show that from 2,847 patients who had a neat or neat-contaminated operation, patients who are given the antibiotic prophylaxis in the duration of two hours prior to the surgery, have a remarkably low chances of getting the infections brought about by the surgical sites. The rate is as minimal as 0.6%. This is opposed to patients who receive the antibiotics in a period of over three hours prior to the actual surgery. Those receiving the antibiotics over three hours before surgery have an extremely high susceptibility of getting the infections brought about by the surgery sites. It has further been seen that the reduction of the antibiotics administration time prior to surgery reduces the chances of contracting the surgery site infections even further. Different analysis has shown that antibiotics given just before or during the actual time of anesthesia effectively reduces the rates of infections for patients who are receiving surgery of the spinal cord (Barker, 2002).

In conclusion, it is evident that antibiotics that are timely administered have a tremendously positive effect to the patient as far as the surgical site infections are concerned. It is also hugely relevant to note that the antibiotics, just like other medicine have a side effect. The extremely common types of side effects are the fungal infections found in the digestive tract, mouth, as well as the vagina, diarrhea, and the constant feeling of sickness. Other patients might suffer from allergies, with side effect being swelling on the face, tongue, and body rashes.