Surgical Site Infections
Surgical Site Infections
This actionable evidence-based practice blueprint provides a checklist for clinicians to create an action plan to prevent surgical site infections and ensure best patient care. This document is revised as needed to incorporate the latest best practices and gold standard of care. The e-book is available free of charge to anyone. © 2022 Patient Safety Movement Foundation.
Contributors:
PSMF Team The Challenge
Symptoms of surgical site infections (SSI) include redness and pain around the surgical site area, drainage of cloudy fluid from the surgical wound, and/or fever. Nearly half of all adverse events in industrialized hospital care settings are attributable to surgical procedures, with SSIs occurring in up to 11% of patients undergoing surgical procedures. With more than 10 million patients undergoing an invasive procedure annually, it is essential to reduce SSI risks from both endogenous factors (the patient’s flora or seeding from a distant site of infection) and exogenous factors (surgical staff, physical environment, ventilation, tools, equipment, and materials in the operating room). This blueprint summarizes the available evidence-based practice protocols to reduce SSIs and outlines the actionable steps organizations should take to successfully improve surgical safety.
