Abstract
This study aimed to identify risk factors associated with surgical site infections in orthopedic surgical patients at a public hospital in Minas Gerais, Brazil, between 2005 and 2007. A historical cohort of 3,543 patients submitted to orthopedic surgical procedures. A descriptive analysis was conducted and surgical site infection incidence rates were estimated. To verify the association between infection and risk factors, the Chi-square Test was used. The strength of association of the event with the independent variables was estimated using Relative Risk, with a 95% confidence interval and p<0.05. The incidence of surgical site infection was 1.8%. Potential surgical wound contamination, clinical conditions, time and type of surgical procedure were statistically associated with infection. Identifying the association between surgical site infection and these risk factors is important and contributes to nurses' clinical practice.
Highlights
Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are considered severe complications and represent a serious threat to hospitalized patients’ safety[1,2]
Among the 3,543 patients submitted to orthopedic surgical procedures, the mean age, preoperative hospitalization time and surgery length corresponded to 54 years (SD=19.8), three days (SD=9) and 80.5 minutes (SD=41.9), respectively
Emergency surgeries were responsible for 0.4% of cases, and implants were placed in 41% of procedures
Summary
Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are considered severe complications and represent a serious threat to hospitalized patients’ safety[1,2]. They increase morbidity-mortality rates, hospitalization costs due to the extended hospital stay and spending on diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, besides neglecting patient’s distancing from their work and family[3,4]. Among the main HAI sites, surgical site infection (SSI) can derive from a surgical act. It is defined as any infection involving tissue, the incised organ and the cavity manipulated during a surgical procedure[5]. Some Brazilian studies evidenced orthopedic SSI rates ranging between 1.4 and 40.3%(8-9)
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