Topical Antibiotics Prescribing in Surgical Ward of a Public Hospital

Abstract

. Using of topical antibiotics as a prophylactic agent before surgeries is common globally. The
current descriptive study aimed to describe the prescribing of topical antibiotics in surgical ward of a public
hospital in Al-Kharj. The data were collected and analyzed descriptively using Excel sheet. During 2020,
102 prescriptions contained a topical antibiotic were prescribed in the surgical ward for 51 patients. Most
of them were males (64.71%), the age of 21.57% of them was between 40 and 49 years. The most commonly
prescribed topical antibiotic was fusidic acid that was prescribed alone in 60.79% of the prescriptions and
combined with hydrocortisone in 2.94% of the prescriptions followed by silver sulfadiazine (10.79%), and
moxifloxacin (9.80%). More than 44% of the topical antibiotics were prescribed as an ointment and 32.35%
were prescribed as a cream. Surgeons should assess the benefit–risk ratio before using topical antibiotics;
they should implement the recommendations of the surgical guidelines and they should continuously attend
workshops and lectures about the wise use of antibiotics for surgical patients.