Operating Room

Common sense dictates that limiting surgical patients' exposure to any reservoir that could harbor pathogenic organisms could help prevent surgical site infections (SSIs). Wearing proper surgical attire is a cornerstone of SSI prevention, yet there has been strident disagreement on some of the finer points of surgical attire and its impact on SSI rates.

Recent news headlines reported two deaths and 179 exposures from contaminated surgical instruments used for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) at a university medical center in California.1 Similar infections also occurred in Washington, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.

Despite a large literature on surgical site infection (SSI), the determinants of prevention behaviors in surgery remain poorly studied. Understanding key social and contextual components of surgical staff behaviour may help to design and implement infection control (IC) improvement interventions in surgery.

The Leapfrog Group, an independent national healthcare watchdog organization,?today released Safety In Numbers: The Leapfrog Group’s Report on High-Risk Surgeries Performed at American Hospitals.

While decolonization of Staphylococcus aureus reduces surgical site infection (SSI) rates following hip and knee arthroplasty, its cost-effectiveness is uncertain. Rennert-May, et al. (2019)