The Infection Control Today® operating room page provides news articles and videos on the intersection between surgery and infection prevention. The operating room is a prime breeding ground for harmful pathogens to spread, resulting in surgical site infections. The role of the infection preventionist, together with the perioperative nursing staff, is to craft policies and processes to cut down on these infections and ensure patient safety during surgical procedures.
October 14th 2024
Postoperative pneumonia (POP) is a common surgical complication that increases hospital stay, costs, and mortality. Oral hygiene before and after surgery can significantly reduce the risk of POP.
Quality in the Operating Room Begins with SSI Reduction and Elimination
October 5th 2015One weapon in the armament against surgical site infections (SSIs) is the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP), an essential tool to helping hospitals reduce the rate of SSIs and other complications that arise during and after patient procedures, says Clifford Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, director of the Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care at the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Ko will deliver the keynote address, “Achieving Quality Improvement in Patient Care,” at the OR Manager conference to be held Oct. 7-9, 2015 in Nashville, Tenn.
SPD, OR Staff Play Equal Roles in Ensuring Case Turnover and Transition
August 18th 2015“Can’t you just hand-wash that piece of equipment and put it in the sterilizer?”That’s one question Tim Brooks hears often-especially from surgeons.The answer is usually, “No.”“I don’t think people really understand what it takes to get instruments back on the shelf,” says Brooks, BS, CSPM, senior manager of sterile processing at Banner University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz. “Many doctors have no idea what the functions of the sterile processing department (SPD) are. The only real exposure they have is what they’ve been told by scrub techs and nurses in the OR suite. In my 28-plus years in this industry, I’ve only seen three surgeons come and walk through SPD. There is a standard of care for every patient. Every time we make an exception, we are changing things for the next patients.”
Disabling Infection-Fighting Immune Response Speeds Up Wound Healing
June 18th 2015One of the body's tools for fighting off infection in a wound may actually slow down the healing process, according to new research by a team of Harvard University, Boston Children's Hospital, and Penn State University scientists. In a study published online in Nature Medicine on June 15, 2015, the researchers show that they can speed up wound healing in diabetic mice by preventing immune cells called neutrophils from producing structures called NETs (neutrophil extracellular traps) that trap and kill bacteria.
Novel Nanoparticle Therapy Promotes Wound Healing
March 26th 2015An experimental therapy developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University cut in half the time it takes to heal wounds compared to no treatment at all. Details of the therapy, which was successfully tested in mice, were published online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
Getting Back to Basics in the OR Through Evidence-Based Practice
March 6th 2015Patient Safety Awareness Week, being celebrated March 8-14, 2015, is an excellent time to review current practice and identify weaknesses that need to be addressed. Nowhere is this more important than in the operating room (OR), where perioperative professionals and infection preventionists can collaborate to determine knowledge gaps and ways to mitigate and eliminate risk of infection and adverse events.