OR Traffic and Surgical Site Infections: A Quality Improvement Project

Abstract

Operating rooms are dynamic places with a lot of movement and people working as a concerted team. Operating room traffic can be necessary (eg, retrieving an unusual supply) or unnecessary (eg, a social visit). This quality improvement project aimed to reduce the amount of OR traffic to only necessary traffic and reduce the surgical site infection rates for the orthopedic ORs in a northern California community hospital. There were three principle interventions: door signs discouraging traffic, staff member relief in batches, and preference card review for accuracy. During the six‐week post‐intervention period, there were no reported surgical site infections for orthopedic procedures, and the standardized infection ratio decreased from 1.75 to 0 in 10 weeks. Operating room traffic decreased after implementation by 46.9%. The number of door openings per minute decreased from 1.96 per minute to 1.04 per minute at the project’s conclusion. Staff members’ awareness of OR traffic increased.