Surgical site infections are the most common healthcare-associated infection, as they account for 31 percent of all HAIs for hospitalized patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The following are two SSI prevention strategies perioperative providers should consider adding to their practices:
• Maintaining safe blood glucose levels for all patients
• Maintaining oxygenation for all patients
Though these two practices are not yet part of the CDC's Guideline for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infections, they will likely be added in 2015, according to Amber Wood, MSN, RN, an AORN perioperative nursing specialist.
"The evidence linking these two practices to preventing SSI has been rated as a Category 1a — the highest level of evidence supporting healthcare practice guidelines," she explained in Periop Insider, the weekly newsletter of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses.
Those two standards will also be considered for inclusion in AORN's Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices.