surgical site infections
why is this a priority to us?
- Surgical site infections can occur after any surgery when bacteria get into surgical wounds
- These can lead to need for antibiotics, longer recovery times, additional surgeries, and additional time in the hospital
who’s at greatest risk?
- Anyone having surgery can develop an infection
- Patients who are having devices implanted – such as rods in backs for scoliosis, or shunts in brains
- Large intestine (Colon) surgeries due to the large number of bacteria that naturally live there
what are we doing to reduce infections?
- We make efforts to reduce the number of bacteria on the skin prior to surgery by:
- Asking patients to bathe the night before surgery
- We wash their skin again in the pre-op area prior to surgery
- The area that will be cut is thoroughly cleaned just prior to incision
- We give antibiotics in our highest risk cases just prior to incision to help reduce the chance of infection
what do we measure?
- At present we measure the number of infections related to spine cases and to specific neurosurgery cases.
- Beginning this year, we will also be measuring the number of infections related to large intestine cases.
- The rate is measured by total number of infections per 100 procedures (spine + neurosurgery)
