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Surgical Wound Infections: Prospective Study of 4,468 Clean Wounds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

M.J. Gil-Egea ,
M.T. Pi-Sunyer ,
A. Verdaguer ,
F. Sanz ,
A. Sitges-Serra  and
L. Torre Eleizegui
M.J. Gil-Egea*
Affiliation:
Departments of Surgery, Medicine, and Biostatistics, Hospital de Nostra Senyora del Mar, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
M.T. Pi-Sunyer
Affiliation:
Departments of Surgery, Medicine, and Biostatistics, Hospital de Nostra Senyora del Mar, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
A. Verdaguer
Affiliation:
Departments of Surgery, Medicine, and Biostatistics, Hospital de Nostra Senyora del Mar, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
F. Sanz
Affiliation:
Departments of Surgery, Medicine, and Biostatistics, Hospital de Nostra Senyora del Mar, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
A. Sitges-Serra
Affiliation:
Departments of Surgery, Medicine, and Biostatistics, Hospital de Nostra Senyora del Mar, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
L. Torre Eleizegui
Affiliation:
Departments of Surgery, Medicine, and Biostatistics, Hospital de Nostra Senyora del Mar, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
*
Department of Surgery, Hospital de Nostra Senyora del Mar, Passeig Maritim sin, OSOOS Barcelona, Spain
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Abstract

A prospective four-year study on the infection rate of clean operative wounds is presented. From January 1982 to June 1985, a nurse epidemiologist and a medical team assessed 4,468 operative procedures, from the day of surgery to the patients' discharge from the hospital. The infection rate was 3.2%. A higher incidence of wound infection was detected in patients requiring emergency operations (5.1%), in drained wounds (5.4%), and in patients with conditions thought to predispose to infection, such as advanced cancer, hepatic cirrhosis, diabetes, nephrotic syndrome, previous splenectomy, and treatment with immunosuppressive drugs (7.8%). Age over 65 did not influence infection rates. There were up to tenfold differences in infection indices between surgeons performing the same clean procedures. The continued monitoring of clean wound infection rates allowed the early detection and control of infection outbreaks. Providing periodic information on infection rates to the different surgical services was associated with decreasing infection rates over time.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 8 , Issue 7 , July 1987 , pp. 277 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1987

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