Infection control monitoring in the ambulatory surgery unit

This article shares a plan for infection control monitoring in an ambulatory surgery unit. Simple, efficient, and effective, the plan meets the unique needs of nurses working in a high-volume unit with rapid turnover of patients where virtually no contact occurs nor is information received about patients after the first 24 hours. The success of the plan depends on the surgeons assuming responsibility for identifying and reporting their patients' postoperative infections. We have found that surgeons will respond if provided with a simple reporting system that requires minimal completion time.