Abstract
Background
Despite a large body of evidence describing care processes known to reduce the incidence
of surgical site infections, many are underutilized in practice.
Methods
Fifty-six hospitals volunteered to redesign their systems as part of the National
Surgical Infection Prevention Collaborative, a 1-year demonstration project sponsored
by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Each facility selected quality improvement
objectives for a select group of surgical procedures and reported monthly clinical
process measure data.
Results
Forty-four hospitals reported data on 35,543 surgical cases. Hospitals improved in
measures related to appropriate antimicrobial agent selection, timing, and duration;
normothermia; oxygenation; euglycemia; and appropriate hair removal. The infection
rate decreased 27%, from 2.3% to 1.7% in the first versus last 3 months.
Conclusions
The Collaborative demonstrated improvement in processes known to be associated with
reduced risk of surgical site infections. Quality improvement organizations can be
effective resources for quality improvement in the surgical arena.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Received in revised form:
December 31,
2004
Received:
November 29,
2004
Identification
Copyright
© 2005 Excerpta Medica Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
