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Aim: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are infections of the incision site, organ or cavity that occur after surgery, causing a significant burden in terms of morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. SSIs are the most common healthcare-associated infections in low- and middle-income countries and may affect one-third of surgical patients. This study aimed to conduct a face-to-face survey to evaluate general surgeons' approaches and knowledge levels before and after the training seminar on the use of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis (SAP). Methods: An information-oriented questionnaire consisting of 10 questions was administered to a total of 18 surgeons working a General Surgery Department before and after the education meeting to evaluate their knowledge and attitudes towards the use of SAP. Data were presented as number, percentage, mean (standard deviation) and Fisher exact test was used to compare categorical data. Results: All participants answered the question regarding the time of prophylactic antibiotic administration correctly in both surveys. According to the current American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) guideline for cefazolin, 42.2% of the patients had the correct time of antibiotic administration. The proportion of patients whose cefazolin selection, dose and time of administration were appropriate was 14.6%. The number of physicians who thought that postoperative antibiotic prophylaxis was not significantly increased from 16 (88.8%) before the meeting to 18 (100%) after the meeting (p>0.05). In our study, the number of patients who continued to be given antibiotics unnecessarily postoperatively was 66 (16.4%). Conclusions: In order to increase the rate of optimal application of the theoretical knowledge to patients in practice, it is important to organize routine trainings based on current literature and service data for surgeons with a high workload and to follow the reflection of these trainings to the clinic in order to improve SAP compliance rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the patients who require enteral nutrition therapy also require concomitant medication administration. In this review, the appropriate medication administration through the post-pyloric feeding tube and related issues that should be considered by clinicians has been focused and accordingly appropriateness of some medication available in our country were listed. Before the drug administration via feeding tube, information such as length of the functional bowel, the inner diameter and length of the tube, the location of distal end of the feeding tube should be considered. The location of distal end of the feeding tube plays an important role for drug absorption due to differences in pH and osmolarity between stomach and jejunum. While a medication designed for oral use administered directly to the jejunum, its bioavailability, gastric complaints and malabsorption may alter, since the expected process (dissolution in stomach and absorption from small intestine) cannot be pursued. As a result, inappropriate medication administration in patients with post-pyloric feeding tube may lead to ineffectiveness, adverse reactions or toxicity of the medication. Therefore, to provide optimal pharmaceutical and nutritional treatment together, medications should be evaluated for appropriateness before administration via post-pyloric feeding tube by the multidisciplinary team, including clinical pharmacists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]