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Financial impact of failing to prevent surgical site infections
Karen W Sparling1, Frederick C Ryckman, Pamela J Schoettker
1The Divisions of Pediatric and Thoracic Surgery, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA. karen.sparling@cchmc.org
Insights
Surgical site infections (SSIs) significantly increase hospital costs and length of stay for pediatric patients. Early detection and prevention are crucial for reducing patient morbidity and healthcare expenses.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Infectious Disease Control
- Pediatric Surgery
Background:
- Surgical site infections (SSIs) continue to be a major cause of patient morbidity, mortality, and increased healthcare costs.
- Despite advancements in infection control, SSIs pose a significant challenge in hospitalized patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the costs and length of stay for pediatric patients who developed SSIs versus matched controls without SSIs.
- To quantify the economic and resource utilization impact of SSIs in pediatric surgical patients.
Main Methods:
- A matched cohort design was employed, comparing 16 pediatric patients with SSIs to 16 matched controls.
- Controls had similar operative procedures during the same period but did not develop SSIs.
Main Results:
- Patients with SSIs experienced an average increase of 10.6 days in length of stay (P = .02) and $27,288 in costs (P = .01).
- Cost differences were minimal on the day of surgery (1.4%) but escalated significantly by day 3 (36% higher for SSI patients).
Conclusions:
- The matched cohort analysis, though time-intensive, effectively highlighted the substantial impact of SSIs.
- This data strengthens efforts to prevent SSIs by aligning quality improvement initiatives with a clear business case.
Background:
Despite advances in infection-control practices, surgical site infections (SSIs) remain a substantial cause of morbidity, mortality, and increased costs among hospitalized patients.
Methods:
We used a matched cohort design to compare costs and length of stay for 16 pediatric patients with an SSI with those of 16 matched control patients who had a similar operative procedure during the same time period but in whom an SSI did not develop.
Results:
On average, length of stay was increased by 10.6 days (P = .02) and costs were increased by $27,288 (P = .01) for each patient with a potentially preventable SSI. On the day of the surgical procedure, costs between study patients and matched controls differed by only 1.4%. By day 3, however, costs were 36% higher for patients with an SSI.
Conclusions:
While matching study patients and control patients requires significant time from financial and clinical staff, this approach and the resulting data analysis strengthened and focused our efforts to prevent future SSIs and aligned initiatives to reduce SSIs with the business case for quality.
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