Best Practice for Post-Operative Surgical Site Infection Prevention

It is estimated that 300 million surgical procedures take place annually throughout the globe (Gillespie et al., 2021). However, the incidence of surgical site infections (SSI) developing in surgical patients within 30 days of surgery have been estimated to be upwards of 11% (Gillespie et al., 2021). The purpose of this evidence-based practice project was to address the PICOT question: In patients who have undergone cardiothoracic or vascular surgery (P) does implementation of an evidence based post-operative care bundle (I) as compared to current clinical agency practice standards (C) result in a decrease of SSI (O) over a 12-week period (T)? The project was completed at a community hospital in Northern Indiana. There was a total of 26 participants, comprised mostly of males aged 49-88 years old. The surgical wounds were assessed for SSIs utilizing the National Healthcare Safety Network/Centers for Disease Control (NHSN/CDC) assessment tool. A Pearson Chi-Square test was used to compare data between two surgical groups to analyze if there was a difference between participants who had received a post-operative care bundle and those who had not. Data between the groups were analyzed and found there was not a statistical relationship between the two groups and whether an SSI was present after the intervention (p= 0.443). Findings from this project may help guide future post-operative care standards in the cardiothoracic and vascular surgical population.