Must try harder

Warning over use of wrong antibiotics - National - theage.com.au

I didn't even know that pre-operation antibiotics were used. Well they are, but often not properly, it seems:

Patients are being placed at greater risk of acquiring harmful infections because doctors are giving them the wrong antibiotic before surgery, according to infectious disease experts.

An analysis of almost 18,000 surgical procedures in 27 Victorian hospitals, by the body that collects information for the State Government about hospital infections, shows the proportion in which the choice of antibiotic is described as "inadequate" ranges from 2.3 per cent for cardiac surgery to 56.7 per cent for hysterectomies.

The timing of antibiotic administration is also crucial. A patient should be given a shot of antibiotics ideally in the hour before the surgeon makes the first incision, and no more than two hours before. But too much antibiotic use can build resistance.

Many posts back, when I was reading about hospital doctors and hand washing, I think I read the suggestion somewhere that patients should pin a sign on their chest saying "have you washed your hands yet." (Probably a good way to get rougher treatment, I am guessing.) Anyway, seems it wouldn't hurt to ask questions of your surgeon about your antibiotic too.