ObjectivesTo assess an intervention for surgical antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP) improvement within surgical teams focused on addressing barriers and fostering enablers and ownership of guideline compliance.DesignThe Queensland Surgical Antibiotic Prophylaxis (QSAP) study was a multicentre, mixed methods study designed to address barriers and enablers to SAP compliance and facilitate engagement in self-directed audit/feedback and assess the efficacy of the intervention in improving compliance with SAP guidelines. The implementation was assessed using a 24-month interrupted time series design coupled with a qualitative evaluation.SettingThe study was undertaken at three hospitals (one regional, two metropolitan) in Australia.ParticipantsSAP-prescribing decisions for 1757 patients undergoing general surgical procedures from three health services were included. Six bimonthly time points, pre-implementation and post implementation of the intervention, were measured. Qualitative interviews were performed with 29 clinical team members. SAP improvements varied across site and time periods.InterventionQSAP embedded ownership of quality improvement in SAP within surgical teams and used known social influences to address barriers to and enablers of optimal SAP prescribing.ResultsThe site that reported senior surgeon engagement showed steady and consistent improvement in prescribing over 24 months (prestudy and poststudy). Multiple factors, including resource issues, influenced engagement and sites/time points where these were present had no improvement in guideline compliance.ConclusionsThe barriers-enablers-ownership model shows promise in its ability to facilitate prescribing improvements and could be expanded into other areas of antimicrobial stewardship. Senior ownership was a predictor of success (or failure) of the intervention across sites and time periods. The key role of senior leaders in change leadership indicates the critical need to engage other specialties in the stewardship agenda. The influence of contextual factors in limiting engagement clearly identifies issues of resource distributions/inequalities within health systems as limiting antimicrobial optimisation potential.

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A 25-year-old man presented to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain and vomiting. He had previously presented 10 days prior with similar symptoms. Computed tomography imaging showed a large jejuno-jejunal intussusception. Multiple intestinal masses were identified intraoperatively with the rare diagnosis of intestinal lipomatosis later confirmed via histopathology. Diagnosis and management of rare surgical pathologies is always challenging. Intussusception should always be considered as a differential diagnosis for abdominal pain in adults, as adult intussusception is typically due to a structural abnormality with majority of cases requiring surgical intervention. Exploratory laparotomy with segmental resection and primary anastomosis proved to be a successful approach in our case, with the patient having an uneventful recovery. Follow-up has consisted of gastrointestinal endoscopy and colonoscopy, which have not demonstrated any further lipomas.

Background: Pancreatitis secondary to hypertriglyceridaemia is rare, accounting for less than 5% of pancreatitis presentations. We reviewed our institutional experience with triglyceridaemia induced acute pancreatitis to report the clinical presentation, patient demographics and clinical management. Methods: The Acute Surgical Unit database at a high-volume general surgical referral centre was queried to identify cases of acute pancreatitis secondary to hypertriglyceridaemia between 2016 and 2019. Patient demographics, clinical manifestations, biochemical derangements and treatment regimens were analysed. Current related literature was reviewed. Results: There were 496 presentations for acute pancreatitis of which 14 presentations (2.8%), amongst 12 patients were due to hypertriglyceridaemia. The mean triglyceride level at presentation was 92.46 (standard deviation 46.9) mmol/L. Ten patients (83%) had poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. All patients were managed using conservative therapy combined with a restricted fat diet and commenced on long-term anti-lipid therapy to manage associated risk factors. In addition, 10 patients received an insulin infusion and one patient received insulin infusion, plasmapheresis and heparin infusion in combination. The median length of hospital stay was 5.5 (range 3-13) days. Two patients (16%) developed a recurrent episode related to non-compliance to medical therapy. Conclusion: Hypertriglyceridaemia is a rare cause of acute pancreatitis. Successful management involves the treatment of acute pancreatitis in conjunction with long-term anti-lipid therapy and optimisation of associated risk factors.

An 80-year-old female presented with acute left-sided abdominal pain. Cross-sectional imaging demonstrated a contained perforation around a migrated biliary stent within a large incisional hernia. Significant surgical background included an open cholecystectomy complicated by bile leak and insertion of a biliary stent 2.5 years prior. The stent had migrated at the time of attempted retrieval 10 weeks post-insertion. A decision was made to pursue conservative management after which time she remained asymptomatic until her acute presentation. Emergency laparotomy, adhesiolysis, stent removal, small bowel resection and abdominal wall closure were successfully performed in this case. In the setting of the biliary stent migration, it is important to consider individual patient’s risk factors for acute perforation, such as intra-abdominal adhesions or diverticular disease, when deliberating conservative management versus elective surgical intervention for stent retrieval.

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