A 73-year-old man has ischemic rest pain of the left calf. Workup reveals occlusion of the left superficial femoral artery. He is scheduled for an elective femoral-popliteal bypass. A good way to reduce the risk of infection would be to:

Shaving is associated with an increased incidence of wound infection compared to the use of electric clippers or depilatories, as well as compared to no hair removal at all. Prophylactic antibiotics should be started within 60 minutes of the incision time. Plastic adherent drapes and antibiotic wound irrigation have not been proven to reduce wound infection rates. Wound infection rates increase as duration of surgery increases beyond 2 hours due to the reemergence of skin flora.