Multidisciplinary standardized protocol decreases time to antibiotic administration for open fractures.

Purpose: Wound complications after open fracture are common, including superficial and deep infections. Many factors may contribute to outcomes after open fracture, including comorbidities, injury location and characteristics, timing and quality of surgical debridement, and soft tissue coverage. Early prophylactic antibiotic administration is one of the few modifiable factors demonstrated to reduce infection rates.

Methods: Retrospective comparative study at a single Level 1 Trauma Center evaluated patients age > 18 who presented directly to and were admitted with open long-bone fracture. Primary outcome measure was time from arrival to antibiotic administration pre- and post-implementation of a standardized open fracture protocol. Secondary analysis evaluated percentage of patients receiving antibiotics within one hour for open long-bone fracture, injury characteristics and patient demographics influence on time to antibiotics.

Results: Median time to antibiotic administration improved post-protocol (69 min vs. 39 min, p < 0.001). Patients receiving antibiotics within one hour improved after protocol implementation (42.9% vs. 79.0%, p < 0.001). Antibiotic administration was more often delayed for patients with penetrating injuries compared to blunt injuries (80 min vs. 54 min, p = 0.003). Patients with penetrating injuries were less likely to receive antibiotics within one hour (46% vs 56%, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The implementation of a standardized protocol reduced the time to antibiotic administration and increased the percentage of patients with open fractures receiving antibiotics within one hour. Penetrating injuries were often not appreciated as open fractures during the initial evaluation, which led to a delay in antibiotic administration.

Level of evidence: Level III, Therapeutic/Care Management.