Infection control in the operating room

Marianne S Cosgrove

doi:10.1016/j.cnc.2014.10.004

Infection control in the operating room

Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am. 2015 Mar;27(1):79-87. doi: 10.1016/j.cnc.2014.10.004. Epub 2014 Dec 15.

Author

Marianne S Cosgrove¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, Yale-New Haven Hospital School of Nurse Anesthesia, Yale University, Yale Medical Group/Yale-New Haven Hospital - SRC, 1450 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: marianne.cosgrove@yale.edu.

PMID: 25725538
DOI: 10.1016/j.cnc.2014.10.004

Abstract

Surgical site infections (SSIs) occur in 160,000 to 300,000 patients per year, at a rate of 2% to 5%. SSIs increase postoperative hospitalization stay and the likelihood of postoperative mortality by a factor of 2- to 11-fold. The estimated financial impact of SSIs on the health care system ranges from $3.5 to $45.0 billion annually. Anesthesia providers have the potential to increase the patient's risk for developing an SSI. The use of antibiotics, attention to patient normothermia, and sound hand hygiene have been shown to decrease the rate of postoperative SSI.

Keywords: Anesthesia provider; Hand hygiene; Infection control; Operating room; Surgical site infection (SSI).

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
Humans
Operating Rooms*
Surgical Wound Infection / economics
Surgical Wound Infection / epidemiology
Surgical Wound Infection / prevention & control*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents