A Practical Tool for Surveillance of Surgical-Site Infections: A 5-Year Experience in Orthopedic Surgeries

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Public Health
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Continuous surveillance of surgical-site infections (SSI) presents a significant workload challenge.
• Existing surveillance methods are often labor-intensive and resource-draining.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a semiautomatic surveillance system for surgical-site infections (SSI).
• To reduce the labor intensity of SSI surveillance while maintaining diagnostic accuracy.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a semiautomatic surveillance system with partial surgeon assistance.
• Limiting postdischarge surveillance to patients who were readmitted for SSI.
• Assessing the sensitivity and specificity of the new surveillance procedure.

Main Results:

• The semiautomatic system significantly reduced the workload associated with SSI surveillance.
• The revised surveillance strategy maintained high sensitivity and specificity for SSI diagnosis.
• Focusing on readmitted patients proved effective for postdischarge SSI detection.

Conclusions:

• A semiautomatic SSI surveillance system, prioritizing readmitted patients, offers an efficient alternative to continuous surveillance.
• This approach balances workload reduction with high accuracy in identifying surgical-site infections.
• Optimized surveillance strategies are crucial for effective hospital infection control.