Keeping surgical antibiotic use correct after reporting ends
Official title: Assessing the Sustainability of Compliance with Surgical Site Infection Prophylaxis After Discontinuation of Mandatory Active Reporting
Funded at VA Boston Health Care System · NIH-11005693 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project checks whether correct antibiotic timing before surgery continued for Veterans after a mandatory hospital reporting program ended.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | VA Boston Health Care System NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project start | October 1, 2021 |
| Project end | September 30, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| NIH project number | 5I01HX003231-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11005693 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are Veterans who had or will have inpatient surgeries at VA hospitals and whose care is recorded in VA electronic health records.
✕Less likely to help
People not treated in the VA system or whose outpatient procedures are not captured in VA records may not directly benefit from this work.
What this research studies
If I'm a Veteran having surgery, this work uses VA medical records to see whether hospitals kept giving antibiotics at the right time after the national reporting program stopped. The team applies electronic algorithms to VA data to track when antibiotics were given and to find surgical infections and other harms like kidney problems. They compare practices across different surgeries and over time to see if good antibiotic habits were sustained or spread beyond the original program. Findings will help VA leaders decide whether to bring back manual review or rely on electronic monitoring to protect patients.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help keep Veterans safer after surgery by making sure antibiotics are given at the right time and by reducing preventable infections and other harms.
How similar studies have gone: Previous VA efforts like SCIP raised correct antibiotic use above 95%, and earlier VA projects have used electronic algorithms to track antibiotic use, but it is unclear whether those gains lasted after reporting ended.
Where this research is happening
-
VA Boston Health Care System
Boston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Mull, Hillary Jane — VA Boston Health Care System
- Study coordinator: Mull, Hillary Jane
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.