Protecting patients from infection: Improving topical prophylaxis compliance on surgical wards.

Background: At a medium-sized district general hospital in the heart of England, it was identified that compliance to the administration of topical prophylaxis on three general surgery wards had reduced to 23%, following implementation of an electronic medication prescription record. Therefore, a quality improvement project was commenced to improve this compliance to protect patients from meticillin-resistant (MRSA) colonisation and associated bacteraemia.

Aim: To improve compliance of topical prophylaxis administration on three surgical wards to protect patients from infection.