Post-discharge surveillance and ITS impact ON surgical site infection incidence

Abstract

Because of their high incidence and associated repercussions, Surgical Site Infections (SSI) are an important problem among hospital-acquired infections. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of SSIs in patients submitted to morbid obesity and gastric surgeries for other causes during the hospitalization and post-discharge periods. In this survey, conducted in two teaching hospitals in the city of São Paulo between August of 2001 and March of 2002, in accordance to the NISS methodology, 158 patients were followed - 81 had been submitted to morbid obesity surgeries and 77 to gastric surgeries for other causes. In 64 cases there occurred SSI, of which 6.3% during hospitalization and 34.1% after discharge. During hospitalization, the incidence of SSI was 5% in the morbid obesity surgeries group and 7.8% in the gastric surgeries for other causes group; in the post-discharge period, the figures increased to 55.5% and 24.7% respectively. These results confirm the importance of following surgical patients after discharge and demonstrate that post-discharge surveillance is an important tool for obtaining dependable data and redirect SSI's prevention and control policies.