A district general hospital's method of post-operative infection surveillance including post-discharge follow-up, developed over a five-year period

Surgical-Site Infections Following Cesarean Section in an Estonian University Hospital: Postdischarge Surveillance and analysis of Risk Factors

“…The ideal methodology should have a high follow-up rate, be cost-effective, and have high sensitivity and specificity. 4,[6][7][8]10 The follow-up rate in our study was 94.8%; in a study conducted by Stockley et al, 19 a combination of different postdischarge surveillance methods gave a follow-up rate of 92.7%. In the study performed by Taylor et al, 20 patients were contacted only by telephone.…”

“…The compliance rate was 93.3%, and it was concluded that this method of contact is feasible and effective. Stockley et al 19 found that the combination of different methods is relatively simple to use and causes minimal inconvenience to patients and healthcare workers. We agree with this because most of the patients were interested in participating in the surveillance and because given that approximately 65% of the population owns a mobile phone, the telephone questionnaire is a suitable method.…”

“…The same applies to the physicians; only physicians whose patients have problems should take part in the study. In the study by Stockley et al, 19 the medical records of patients who could not be contacted by phone were not reviewed. In contrast, we performed chart reviews and received information regarding nine more patients, a method also practiced by Noy and Creedy.…”

“…7 The postdischarge survey was performed according to the modified methodology developed by Stockley et al 19 The patient received a questionnaire ( Figure) to be given to the physician (ie, obstetrician or general practitioner) to complete if problems developed regarding the wound or if endometritis developed after discharge. All study subjects were contacted at home by telephone 30 to 35 days after surgery (including those patients who had been diagnosed as having SSI during admission).…”

Infecção de sítio cirúrgico em hospital universitário: vigilância pós-alta e fatores de risco

“…Em relação à determinação do sitio específico da ISC, as mais freqüentes foram na categoria superficial, tanto durante a internação como após a alta. Como já mencionado anteriormente, a grande maioria das ISC diagnosticadas após a alta são do tipo superficial (3)(4)(5)(6)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) , exatamente pela possibilidade de alta precoce do paciente e menor permanência hospitalar. Porém, quando o seguimento é realizado por profissionais não treinados de acordo com a metodologia especí-fica para o diagnostico das infecções hospitalares, esta categoria de infecção é muitas vezes ignorada, por não apresentar nenhuma limitação para o paciente, não necessitar reinternação e acima de tudo por ser de fácil resolução do ponto de vista clínico, o que gera uma sub-notificação para o serviço de controle de infecção hospitalar.…”