Implementing a multidisciplinary care bundle to reduce colon surgical site infections

Area of Science:

• Infection Control
• Surgical Quality Improvement
• Public Health

Background:

• Surgical site infections (SSI) pose a significant risk to patients undergoing colon surgery.
• Effective infection control strategies are crucial for improving patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a colon surgical site infection (SSI) bundle on infection rates over a two-year period.
• To assess changes in compliance with care bundle components after implementation.

Main Methods:

• A multidisciplinary team developed an 8-component care bundle, incorporating Surgical Care Improvement Project recommendations and hand hygiene monitoring.
• The care bundle was implemented for all colon surgery patients from April 2013 to December 2014.

Main Results:

• Overall bundle compliance increased from 87.9% pre-implementation to 90.5% in 2014.
• Compliance significantly improved for antimicrobial discontinuation (88.3% to 100%), surgical hand washing (50.0% to 78.9%), and medical hand washing (74.7% to 82.8%).
• Surgical site infection rates decreased from 8.0% pre-implementation to 2.3% in 2014.

Conclusions:

• The multidisciplinary care bundle implementation led to increased compliance with its components.
• A significant reduction in surgical site infection rates was observed following the quality improvement project.