General Surgery

Preventing surgery related infections

Surgical site infections (SSI) is infection that occurs after surgery in a part of the body where the surgery took place. Surgical site infections are seen as the most common healthcare-associated infection, significantly impacting healthcare resources in the UK and across the World.

Professor Leaper speaks on needing ongoing good antibiotic stewardship to reduce the risk of antibiotic-resistant and emergent organisms. The pressures on administering antibiotics have led to tighter management and stewardship of antibiotics.

Global effort to reduce postoperative infection risk

Infection rates following surgical procedure vary across countries, however the causes and the ranges of variation are not well understood.

The causes of the infections are not as high as would be assumed on the surgical procedure, but co-morbidity and lifestyle choices including alcohol consumption may exacerbate risk. As Dr Edmiston states, there are a myriad of causes, and funding is limited in many countries. However there are some solutions, where goals, performance tracking against the goals and better communication is needed.

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