Sponsors

Surgical site infections: a major cause of nosocomial spread

Current infection control focus is on surgical site infection and how it can be minimised. Here, James Beaves explains how cutting-edge products from Oxoid have an important role to play. Despite appropriate pre-and post-operative decontamination practices and implementation of infection prevention and control techniques in theatre, surgical site infections (SSIs) are the second most common type of adverse event occurring in hospitalised patients.

Patients with SSIs are five times more likely to be readmitted to hospital, 60% more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit, twice as likely to die, be hospitalised for up to seven days more, and cost three times more to treat as non- infected patients.

In the USA, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) estimates that more than 27 million surgical procedures are performed annually, with approximately 290,000 SSIs and 8000 patient deaths being associated with SSI infections.

Across Europe, over 29 million surgical procedures are performed each year, with around 2.6% of patients developing an SSI during their recovery in hospital. However, an estimated 40–60% of SSI cases are thought to be preventable.  Recently, in the USA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services created a list of hospital-acquired conditions that are non-reimbursable because they were deemed preventable, including a range of SSIs. Swift identification of SSI is therefore desirable to enable healthcare professionals to initiate appropriate patient care quickly and decisively, enabling better patient outcomes and reducing costs for the healthcare provider.

Log in or register FREE to read the rest

This story is Premium Content and is only available to registered users. Please log in at the top of the page to view the full text. If you don't already have an account, please register with us completely free of charge.

Latest Issues

Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) 2024 Annual Meeting & Expo

Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, Canada
19-23 November, 2024

11th Digital Pathology & AI Congress: Europe

Hilton London Metropole, 255 Edgware Road, London, W2 1JU
11-12 December, 2024

Microbiology Society Annual Conference 2025

Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre
31 March - 3 April, 2025

BSMT Annual Microbiology Conference

RAF Museum, Hendon, London NW9 5LL
15 May, 2025

Ghent Pathology 2025

ICC Ghent, Belgium
24-26 June, 2025