Of all surgical complications, the surgical site infection is the one that makes hospital readmission after surgery most likely, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
Researchers performed a retrospective study of the Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program, which followed approximately 59,000 patients undergoing colorectal, Arthroplasty, vascular or gynecologic procedures between January 2005 and August 2009. They found patients with a surgical site infection were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days 55.7 percent of the time. Overall, the surgical complication rate for the study population was 22.6 percent.
Sign up for our FREE E-Weekly for more coverage like this sent to your inbox!
Patients with respiratory complications were only readmitted 8.7 percent of the time, which was lower than the overall 30-day readmission rate among all patients, with or without complications, which was 11.9 percent.
More Articles on Infection Control & Clinical Quality:
97% Checklist Completion With Team-Based Time-Out
CMS: Quality Reporting Deadline Again Delayed Due to Weather
Patient Safety Tool: Infection Control Plan for Outpatient Oncology