Chasing Zero: Our Journey to Preventing Surgical Site Infection

Abstract

After an increase in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections was discovered at a health care facility in Arizona, a multidisciplinary team convened to investigate the underlying problem and work toward eliminating surgical site infections. The team investigated environmental factors, held inservice sessions to reinforce sterile technique, and made important changes to the facility culture in efforts to eliminate surgical site infections. The team's efforts were put into practice on October 30, 2008, and only one surgical site infection was identified in the following seven months.

Reducing the risk of surgical site infection using a multidisciplinary approach: an integrative review

“…Team composition varied, depending on the activities and location(s) of the health professionals involved. For instance, four studies 23 – 26 focused on SSI-prevention strategies used exclusively by perioperative teams during surgery.…”

“…The majority of the studies 2 , 24 – 26 , 31 – 33 described a combination of evidence-based strategies used by multidisciplinary teams to reduce SSI. In nine studies, patient “care bundles” were used, which predominantly focused on three preventive strategies: antibiotic prophylaxis, 2 , 24 – 26 , 29 , 31 – 33 skin antisepsis, 23 , 24 , 27 , 28 and maintenance of normothermia. 26 , 28 Implementation of the care bundles was fleetingly described, and particular tasks were undertaken by individual team members, thus working in parallel rather than interdependently with others in the team.…”

Operating theatre nurse specialist competence to ensure patient safety in the operating theatre: A discursive paper

“…Control of hygiene and asepsis is of utmost importance in the OT to prevent postoperative wound infections (Liu et al, 2018;Roesler, Halowell, Elias, & Peters, 2010).…”

Surgical Patients: A Vulnerable Population

“…For the surgical patient population, SSIs are the most common type of HAI, 3‐6 with an annual estimated incidence of 500,000 to 750,000 7 . Some reports in the literature have estimated the incidence of SSIs to be as high as 1 million every year 8 .…”

“…A patient's risk for dying is 11 times greater if he or she develops a postoperative SSI 9 . Intensive care unit admission increases by 60% in patients who develop an SSI, and these patients are also two to five times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital after discharge 7,10 . This translates to an increased length of stay of seven to 31 days per event 11 for patients who develop SSIs 12,13 .…”