Current perioperative practice patterns for minimizing surgical site infection during rhinologic procedures

There is a paucity of information in the literature regarding the best practices to reduce surgical site infections associated with rhinologic surgery.

We surveyed the American Rhinologic Society (ARS) membership to assess current perioperative infection control measures performed for rhinologic procedures, with the goal of establishing a baseline of current practice.

Results revealed that for most rhinologic procedures performed in the operating room (OR) setting, the majority of physicians gown and drape in a sterile fashion and perform a complete surgical scrub of their hands and forearms but do not prep the facial skin with an antimicrobial agent. For rhinologic procedures performed in the office setting, the majority of physicians do not perform any of the aforementioned perioperative measures for any of the office procedures. Interestingly, for physicians that perform inferior turbinate reductions in both settings, 45% gown and drape in a sterile fashion and 28% perform a complete surgical scrub of their hands in the OR setting but not in the office setting. The most stringent measures were performed for endoscopic skull-base procedures, with over 90% of responders administering perioperative antibiotics, gowning and draping in a sterile fashion, and performing a complete surgical scrub of their hands. Despite lack of demonstrated benefit, antibiotics were used variably for the other procedures.

This survey demonstrates that there is great variability in the perioperative measures rhinologists perform to reduce surgical site infection, which differs by the practice site. These data serve as a baseline for future studies.