Total Knee Replacement Quality Measures
According to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations (JCAHO) Surgical Infection Prevention Core Performance Measures,
patients undergoing knee replacement (also called knee arthroplasty) should
receive a prophylactic antibiotic within one hour prior to the surgical incision
being made.
Surgical site infections affect approximately 500,000 persons
per year according to a Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention report.
Numerous factors such as age and general health status of persons undergoing
surgery can affect rates of infection at any given hospital. One of the National
Patient Safety Goals from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations is prevention of health care associated infection.
The Medicare
Quality Improvement Community (MedQIC), a national knowledge forum for healthcare
and quality improvement professionals, encourages careful selection and use
of antibiotics for surgical procedures. The benefits of selective peri-operative
antibiotic use have been repeatedly demonstrated since the 1960's (Archives
of Surgery. February 2005;140(2): 174-182).
Also,
prophylactic antibiotics should be discontinued within 24 hours after the surgery
end time.
94 percent of St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center's knee replacement patients received prophylactic antibiotics
within one hour prior to the surgical incision in
2006.
52 percent of St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center's knee replacement patients had their antibiotics discontinued
within 24 hours after the surgery end time in
2006.