Back to Basics: Preventing Surgical Site Infections
Chamberlain College of Nursing

Back to Basics: Preventing Surgical Site Infections When going into a hospital for surgery, people do not think about the chances of becoming more ill due to a surgical site infection. People generally worry about the surgery itself and trust the fact that the staff performing the surgery and the staff caring for the surgical site are well trained to do so. Most people do not know what takes place to ensure the safety of the patients and the training that the staff must go through to prevent surgical site infections. With patient safety being a major concern in healthcare settings, we are looking at surgical site infections; what they are and how to help prevent them.
Article Review According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a surgical site infection (SSI) is defined as “an infection that occurs after surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place” (CDC, 2012). With healthcare facilities trying to close the gap in preventable infections, many pieces of literature can be researched. The Back to Basics’ Preventing Surgical Site Infections article outlines interventions that are in place and that have been updated to help with reducing these infections. The author, put together a compiled list of perioperative interventions and the research that has gone into each one, along with any updates that the Joint Commission the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have made to the SSI guidelines; such as good hand hygiene, clean equipment, following protocols, team training, and educating patients for self-care to name a few (Spruce, 2014). She also goes into detail about tips and tricks the hospitals staff can take to prevent the infections and the benefits of them, not only to the hospital but also the patients.

Personal Perspective
If everyone on the staff commits to staying current on the latest evidence-based research and following safety protocols, SSI’s can be eliminated. Patients going into surgery already have enough to worry about