Postoperative wound infections--a prospective study in a newly opened hospital

The rate of postoperative wound infections was determined in a prospective study during one year in a newly opened University hospital. Protocols which were part of the routine care of the patients were used for recording of wound infections. This method of registration was simple and proved to be efficient with a failure rate of only 1%. The overall infection rate was 9%--after clean surgery 2.6%, potentially contaminated surgery 14% and contaminated surgery 16%. Old age, long preoperative hospital stay, emergency operations and long operative times were associated with high frequency of wound infections. The importance of continuous recording of wound infections in a surgical unit was emphasized.