Inpatient and post-discharge wound infections in general surgery

The wound infection incidence during inpatient stay was compared with the post-discharge infection incidence for 1 month using audit data and a patient questionnaire. The true infection rate was found to be 20% compared with an apparent rate of 2.4% (P < 0.001). The study highlights the problems of postoperative monitoring in the context of shorter inpatient stays and fewer routine outpatient appointments.