Improving antibiotic stewardship: order set implementation to improve prophylactic antimicrobial prescribing in the outpatient surgical setting.

In the landmark document Crossing the Quality Chasm, the Institute of Medicine lists 6 aims of healthcare, one of which is that healthcare has to be effective. One means of improving the effectiveness of healthcare includes the creation of evidence-based guidelines to help streamline processes, decrease variability in care, and improve outcomes. Postoperative infection constitutes one of the most common preventable complications for surgical patients.