3M Health Care announces the publication of a new independent study, “Effects of Preoperative Skin Preparation on Postoperative Wound Infection Rates: A Prospective Study of 3 Skin Preparation Protocols,” that compared the effects of three different skin preparation solutions on surgical site infections (SSIs).
The study found that iodophor-based skin preparation solutions, such as 3M™ DuraPrep™ Surgical Solution (Iodine Povacrylex [0.7% available Iodine] and Isopropyl Alcohol, 74% w/w) Patient Preoperative Skin Prep, may be superior to chlorhexidine in preventing SSIs. Authored by Brian R. Swenson, MD, Robert G. Sawyer, MD, and colleagues from the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, Va., the study appears in the October 2009 issue of the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
The study, which examined more than 3,200 general surgery patients during an 18-month period, was performed in concert with ongoing data collection for the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (NSQIP). This program, which employs a prospective, peer-controlled, validated database to quantify 30-day risk-adjusted surgical outcomes, is a tool to measure and report surgical quality and outcomes and is recognized by the Institutes of Medicine, the Joint Commission and the American Board of Surgery.
