Reducing the Risk of Surgical Site Infection

Reducing The Risk Of Surgical Site Infection

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                Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) pose a significant threat to patient’s health and safety at an alarming rate.  One type of this Healthcare-Associated infections are the Surgical Site Infections (SSIs). These infections affect more than 500,000 patients annually (Meeks et al., 2011).The joint commission report tells that an average 2.7% of surgeries result in SSIs (Haessler, et al., 2010) and up to 4% of children with surgical procedures experience an SSI(Butcher, Warner, & Dillon, 2011).This study attempts to investigate the usefulness of prophylactic antibiotics in reducing the risk of surgical wound site infections among adults undergoing orthopedic surgery.

              For proper analysis, a research question was formulated together with search strategies. This research question incorporated Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) aspect to guide the research. In this case, the Population(P) referred to adults undergoing orthopedic surgery while Intervention (I)  was the prophylactic antibiotic use and its prevention of infections, surgical wound site infections, and prognosis.The study comparator /control (C) was “Prophylactic use of antibiotics compared to no antibiotic intervention”.The outcomes of interest (O)  was to measure the prognosis of patients undergoing orthopedic procedures to see whether there were any improvements with the use of prophylactic antibiotics or not and as well to see if surgical site infections had reduced.

The PICO research question formulated was “In adults undergoing orthopedic surgery, do prophylactic antibiotics reduce the risk of surgical wound site infection?”. A search strategy was formulated after the formulation of the PICO question using Medical Subject headings (MeSH).

The study focused more addressing the PICO aspect. These specifically included studies on patients with 18 years of age and above who had undergone orthopedic procedures. On Interventions of interest(prophylactic antibiotic use and its prevention of infections, surgical wound site infections, and prognosis).  A comparison was made between the prophylactic use of antibiotics and no antibiotic intervention.The outcomes of Interest being to measure the prognosis of patients undergoing orthopedic procedures to see whether there were any improvements with the use of prophylactic antibiotics or not. Studies that were not in English and therefore could not be translated were excluded.

For compliance with PICO, the selected systematic review was subjected to a full-text analysis(Ratilal et al., 2008). These involved proper patient scrutiny in determining whether they met the selection criteria through interventions, comparisons, and outcomes. From the data abstracted two studies had inconclusive results as regards the use of prophylactic antibiotics in reducing SSIs. The evidence base to use prophylactic antibiotics and SSIs among adults remains complex and diverse.

The results of the research conducted by (Djindjian 1990 and Petignat 2008), which used antibiotics versus no antibiotics evaluated patients for surgical site infections. Overall a difference was noticed these means the use of antibiotics prevents the development of surgical site infections.SSIs in orthopedic surgeries can be decreased efficiently with appropriate and standardized prophylactic antibiotics. Further study should, however, be conducted focusing on combining medical screening and use of prophylactic antibiotics to reduce surgical site infections rate.