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Knee Surgery Measures
- Orthopaedic Home
- Knee Surgery Volume
- Antibiotics Before Knee Surgery
- Antibiotics Stopped After Knee Surgery
- Correct Antibiotics
- Quality Measures Home
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Preventive Antibiotics Stopped After
Knee Surgery
Percent of Knee Replacement Surgery Patients Whose Preventive Antibiotics are Stopped Within 24 hours After Surgery
July 2008 - June 2009
What the graph is saying
For this measure, higher percentages are better. The graph above shows that HealthEast hospitals are above the Minnesota average.
Why is this measure important?
Antibiotics are medicines to prevent and treat infections. While the likelihood of infection after surgery can be reduced by giving patients preventative antibiotics, taking these antibiotics for more than 24 hours after routine surgery is usually not necessary and can increase the risk of side effects such as stomach aches, serious types of diarrhea, and antibiotic resistance (when antibiotics are used too much, they will not work anymore.) There are exceptions – for example, where the surgical site has been contaminated (making the surgery not routine).Talk to your doctor if you have questions about how long you should take antibiotics after surgery.
Description above from the United States Department of Health & Human Services Hospital Compare web site: www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov
* The "Top U.S. Hospitals" represent the top 10% of all hospitals reporting information to Hospital Compare.
