Surgical site infections and the discharge care of surgical drains following spinal fusions: a qualitative inquiry

Sydney LeSon; Jean Horoho; Leonard Mermel

doi:10.1017/ash.2025.10152

Surgical site infections and the discharge care of surgical drains following spinal fusions: a qualitative inquiry

Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. 2025 Oct 1;5(1):e241. doi: 10.1017/ash.2025.10152. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Sydney LeSon¹, Jean Horoho¹, Leonard Mermel^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Infection Prevention, Brown University Health, Providence, RI, USA.
² Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Providence, Providence, RI, USA.

Abstract

Patient interviews suggest there is a difference in surgical drain management after hospital discharge among patients who developed surgical site infection (SSI) compared to those without an SSI. Based on our findings, postoperative drain care instruction was revised with the goal of improving compliance with management of this device.