Twenty-one percent reduction in SSI rate reported across network hospitals
MONDAY, Oct. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Adoption of a recommended bundle of prevention behaviors is associated with a reduction in the pediatric surgical site infection (SSI) rate, according to a study published online Oct. 5 in Pediatrics.
Joshua K. Schaffzin, M.D., Ph.D., from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues formed a national workgroup of content and quality improvement experts in an effort to reduce SSI-related harm, focusing on cardiothoracic, neurosurgical shunt, and spinal fusion surgeries, which are at high risk for SSIs. They distributed a recommended prevention bundle among network partners after literature review and consultation with experts. Institutions could adopt all or part of the bundle; bundle adherence and SSI rates were reported monthly from January 2011 to December 2013.
The researchers found that bundle components included proper preoperative bathing, intraoperative skin antisepsis, and antibiotic delivery. Among institutions reporting adherence, the network achieved 96.7 percent reliability within six months. Across network hospitals, there was a 21 percent reduction in SSI rate, from a mean baseline rate of 2.5 SSIs to a mean of 1.8 SSIs per 100 procedures.
“Adoption of a SSI prevention bundle with concomitant reliability measurement reduced the network SSI rate,” the authors write. “Linking reliability measurement to standardization at an institutional level may lead to safer care.”
One author disclosed financial ties to Pfizer, RPS Diagnostics, and Cubist.
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