Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T04:31:04.650Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effective and Creative Surveillance and Reporting of Surgical Wound Infections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Allen B. Kaiser
Allen B. Kaiser*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, St. Thomas Hospital, and the Division of Infectious Diseases and Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
*
P.O. Box 380, St. Thomas Hospital, Nashville, Tennessee 37202
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Surgical wound infections offer a major challenge to hospital infection control programs. Surgical procedures and host factors are independent variables which markedly influence the risk of infection. Frequently used categories of surgical procedures (clean, contaminated, and infected) are inadequate to identify the special risks and problems of individual procedures.

In 1976, in conjunction with the practicing surgeons of a large, referral hospital, the Infections Control Committee instituted surveillance of selected clean surgical procedures and deep-versus-superficial wound infections. Major problems associated with the cleaning of sternal saws and the timing of the administration of prophylactic antibiotics have been detected by these methods. Conventional surveillance undoubtedly would have overlooked these problems. Effective surveillance and control of surgical wound infections requires a willingness to modify surveillance activities to meet the local needs, and a determination to include the operating surgeons in the planning of surveillance activities.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , February 1982 , pp. 41 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Haley, RW, Shachtman, RH. The emergence of infection surveillance and control programs in US hospitals: An assessment, 1976. Am J Epid 1980; 111:574–591.Google Scholar
2.Booth, AL, et al. A statewide characterization of hospital infection control practices and practitioners. Infect Control 1980; 1:227–232.Google Scholar
3.Haley, RW, et al. Extra charges and prolongation of stay attributable to nosocomial infections: A prospective interhospital comparison. Am J Med 1981; 70:51–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Cruse, PJE. Incidence of wound infection on the surgical services. Surg Clin North Am 1975; 55:1269–1275.Google Scholar
5.Kaiser, AB, et al. Antibiotic prophylaxis in vascular surgery. Ann Surg 1978; 188:283–289.Google Scholar
6.Aber, RC, Garner, JS. Postoperative Wound Infections. In: Wenzel, RP (ed). Handbook of Hospital Acquired Infections. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Pr, 1981.Google Scholar
7.Ehrenkranz, NJ. Surgical wound infection occurrence in clean operations. Am J Med 1981; 70:909–914.Google Scholar