Multidisciplinary Implementation of Published Surgical Site Infection Prevention Recommendations Is Associated with Improved Outcomes in Neurosurgical Patients

• Published in: American journal of infection control 2023-07, Vol.51 (7), p.S14-S14
• Main Authors: Palladino, Katie J., Dixon, Heather, Yassin, Mohamed H., Semroc, Suzan, Miele, Vincent
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0196-6553; 1527-3296
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2023.04.154

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are among the most common, most expensive healthcare-associated infections. In 2019, spinal fusions and laminectomies are associated with the most excess SSIs at an urban, 420-bed acute care hospital. Adherence to published SSI prevention recommendations is unknown in this patient population and improving adherence may improve SSI rates, readmission rates, and patient satisfaction. In 2020, we established a multidisciplinary workgroup of subject-matter experts and champions responsible for implementing published SSI prevention recommendations through education, coaching, and validation. Validators reviewed medical records of a random sample of procedures to assess adherence to select SSI prevention recommendations. Adherence and SSI rates were reported to the workgroup monthly the first year, then quarterly. In this quasi-experimental study, we compared pre-intervention to post-intervention SSI rates, readmission rates, and patient satisfaction measures. We obtained SSI rates from the National Healthcare Safety Network. We calculated readmission rates via medical record abstraction. SSI and readmission rates pre- and post-intervention were compared using the mid-p value method. A mid-p value