Impact of surgeon-specific feedback on surgical site infection rates in Thailand

Data on surgeon-specific feedback on surgical site infection (SSI) rates are not currently available in Thailand. The authors conducted a before and after study among patients undergoing surgery in seven Thai hospitals to examine whether a feedback system to surgeons could reduce SSI rates. After a six-month surveillance period, surgeons were provided with their own SSI rates and standardized infection ratios (SIRs). The criteria of the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) system were used to determine SSI rates, and the SSI rates were compared with the NNIS report in terms of the SIR. To compare the SIR before and after intervention, the SIR ratio was calculated and logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the relative impact of surgeon-specific feedback, adjusting for patient sex, patient age, degree of wound contamination, American Society of Anesthesiologists' score, duration of operation, type of operation, use and duration of antibiotic prophylaxis, and length of pre-operative stay. After confidential feedback to surgeons for six months, SSI rates and the SIR remained unchanged. The SSI rate in the pre-intervention period was 1.7 infections/100 operations and the corresponding SIR was 0.8 [95% confidence intervals (CI)=0.6-0.9]. In the post-intervention period, the SSI rate was 1.8 infections/100 operations, with a corresponding SIR of 0.8 (95%CI=0.7-0.9). The SIR ratio was 1.0. The relative risk of SSI after surgeon-specific feedback suggested that this intervention had no effect (adjusted relative risk=1.02, 95%CI=0.77-1.35). Feedback to surgeons on their SSI rates did not reduce the rates of such infections in Thailand.