Single-Dose First-Generation Cephalosporin for Extremity Gunshot Wounds Offers Sufficient Infection Prophylaxis

Antibiotic prophylaxis for extremity gunshot wounds (GSWs) is highly variable. The objective of the present study is to quantify the adherence rate to a protocol for single-dose cephalosporin prophylaxis for extremity GSWs and the impacts on post-injury infection rates. We reviewed patients presenting to a level 1 trauma center with an extremity gunshot wound between 2019 and 2021. Infection rates were compared for patients following the protocol or not, and for patients presenting before or after the protocol’s implementation. Overall, 94% of patients received antibiotic treatment at presentation, but only 34% followed the single-dose antibiotic protocol. The rate of protocol adherence increased from 15% to 39% after the protocol was implemented in the hospital in January 2020 (p = 0.081). Infection rates were not different before and after the protocol implementation (25% vs. 18%, p = 0.45). Infection rates were also not different between patients who did and did not follow the protocol (15% vs. 20%, p = 0.52). The implementation of a single-dose cephalosporin protocol increased adherence to the protocol in a level 1 trauma center without increasing infection rates. These findings support conservative treatment along with a single dose of first-generation cephalosporin antibiotic for uncomplicated extremity GSWs in order to decrease healthcare costs without compromising infection risk.