| Surgical Site Infection Prevention |
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On May 28th 2008, the government announced that all hospitals have to report to the public on 8-safety indicators- including the use of prophylactic antibiotics prior to knee and hip joint replacement surgery. Surgical site infection is the second most common type of adverse events occurring in hospital in the USA. Appropriate antibiotics given within 1 hour of the beginning of the surgery is a key component in preventing surgical site infections. WGH has been colleting this data and reporting it to the Ministry of Health and to the general public as of April 30, 2009. We have a number of practices in place to help prevent surgical site infections, including administering antibiotics to patients at a certain time before their surgery. As of April 30, 2009, all Ontario hospitals that perform hip and knee joint replacement surgeries are required to post quarterly SSI-Prevention percentages to further promote accountability and transparency within the health system. The method of calculation of this indicator is: The number of hip/knee joint replacement surgeries that received antibiotics within 60 minutes of skin incision divided by the total number of patients during the reporting period who had primary knee/hip joint replacement surgical procedure x 100% is equal to the percent of hip/knee replacement surgical patients who received antibiotics within 60 minutes of skin incision.
If you have any questions about the information below or about our hospital’s infection prevention and control program, please contact Infection Prevention and Control at ext 2356 or 2449 What are health care-associated infections? Sometimes when patients are admitted to the hospital, they can get infections. These are called health care-associated infections. What is a Surgical Site Infection? A surgical site infection (SSI) occurs at the site of a surgical incision. Germs can get into the incision area, and cause an infection. It can develop within 30 days of an operation, or sometimes even up to one year if an implant (such as a knee or hip joint implant) is used. Infections can be minor, or occasionally they can increase complications that result in a longer length of stay in the hospital, or an increased readmission rate for patients. Post- operative SSI is the most common health care-associated infections in surgical patients. What can patients do to help reduce their chances of infection? Follow the pre-operation instructions given to you by your surgeon and health care team. Frequent hand cleaning is another way to prevent the spread of infection. Hand hygiene involves everyone in the hospital, including patients. More patient-specific information is available at www.ontario.ca/patientsafety and www.oha.com/patientsafetytips and www.oha.com/cleanhandsprotectlives Surgical Site Infection Fact Sheet Home |