Our hospital launched an initiative to improve the appropriateness
of surgical prophylactic antibiotics (SPAs) in 2007, and a
computerized clinical decision support system (CDSS) for antibiotic
prescription was introduced a year later. Both changes aimed
to reduce the unnecessary use of antibiotics by enhancing the
appropriateness of antibiotic use. Although the effects of such
measures have been demonstrated to improve patient safety and
quality of care,10-12 their impact on antibiotic use and antimicrobial
resistance warranted further research. Hence, we conducted
an interrupted time series analysis on the use of antibiotics
and the antimicrobial resistance rate before and after these
interventions.