Study of Surgical site infection in clean and clean contaminated surgeries in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Background and objectives: Infection is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in surgical patients. Surgical site infections can occur anytime from zero to thirty days and affect either the incision or deep tissue at the operation site. Rapidly emerging nosocomial pathogens and the problem of multi-drug resistance necessitates periodic review of isolation patterns and sensitivity in surgical practice. This study aimed at evaluating the incidence of SSI in our hospital and the preventive measures which are already practised for reducing the SSI rate in our hospital. Materials and methods: A hospital based descriptive study conducted in a public tertiary care hospital in Puducherry. Data from 242 surgical patients were collected using a predesigned proforma and the patients were followed up for a period of 30 days following surgery to assess the occurrence of any infection at wound site. Results: During the study period data from 242 patients were collected. Out of these, 29 patients [12%] developed the surgical site infection. The incidence of SSI in clean surgeries was 11.1% and in clean-contaminated surgeries was 12.9%. The most common isolates were Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA [2 cases each] and all other isolates were obtained from single cases of SSI. Interpretation and conclusions: The incidence of SSI in our institute was found to be around 12% in clean and clean-contaminated surgeries. The pathogenic isolates from our institute were same as pathogens associated with SSI from other studies.