Surgical Site Infections Incidence, their Predictors and Causative Organisms in a Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Purposes: Nosocomial infections (NCIs) are infections that generally occur 48 hours after hospitalization. Surgical site infections (SSIs) are the major contributor to patient morbidity, health care costs and death. The rational for this study was to assess the frequency of NCIs in surgical wards and investigate possible predictors for SSIs. Methods: It was an observational and prospective study for the purpose of providing structured opportunities for Hospital administration and health professionals in countering SSIs. The total number of patients were 1611 including Saudis and non-Saudi nationals. Each patient was followed up from the time of admission until discharge (with a maximum period of 30 days postoperatively). Surgical wounds were inspected at the time of the first dressing and weekly thereafter for 30 days. Also, swabs from a deeper part of the wound were taken from the infected surgical sites, and routinely from the surface of non-infected sites. The specimens were gram stained and examined for the presence of organisms (cultured aerobically and anaerobically). Findings: The main findings were: SSIs causative organisms were Staphylococcus aureus (25% incidence) followed by Echeriashia coli (23% incidence). The incidence rate of surgical site infections was 11.4%. The presences of co-morbidities were a risk factor for SSIs in this study and a higher level of education was related to decreases in SSIs. Recommendations: This article recommended proper nursing care, sterilization and disinfection of instruments and equipment with careful handling of intensive procedures to control infection which will improve the efficiency and quality of surgical care.

Surgical site infection following abdominal surgery: a prospective cohort study

“…This finding is contrary to those in studies that revealed more gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci. 2,25 However, other authors reported findings similar to ours, with more common gram-negative bacteria isolated from the infected abdominal wounds in Al-Ahsa, 11 Saudi Arabia 2 and Tanzania. 5 We also found that most of the pathogens were multiresistant to the commonly prescribed prophylactic anti- biotics.…”

“…This finding is in keeping with previous reports in the literature. 5,11 Longer operative time reflects the complexity of the surgery. It would also increase the wound susceptibility to infection by increasing the exposure to potential contamination and decreasing the tissue concentration of antibiotic.…”

Incidence of surgical site infections and prediction of risk factors in a hospital center in Morocco

“…Our study is the first such study carried out in the Provincial Hospital of Taza concerning the incidence of SSIs. The SSIs incidence rate, found in this study (6.3%), corroborates with those reported in other studies carried out in Brazil (6.4%) [10], Turkey (4.09%) [11], India (5%) [12], Pakistan (7.3%) [13], and Algeria (5.4%) [14]; while it is lower than that obtained in many other countries: Ethiopia (13%) [15], Egypt (17.6%) [16], Saudi Arabia (11.4%) [17], Nigeria (27.6%) [18] and Tanzania (26%) [19].…”

Postoperative Surgical Site Infections in the Department of General Surgery of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

“…The rate of SSI in our centre is lower than in studies done in Pakistan where it was found to be 33.68%. 14 It is still slightly higher than those reported in studies done in Saudi Arabia, 12% 15 and 10.50%. 16 In our study, the rate of SSI was more in adult groups and this result was obtained as more patients admitted and operated on were in adult age groups.…”