Surginfection

Does double gloving reduce SSI rates? What evidence exists to support the use of antimicrobial impregnated gloves?

What is the best solution to use for surgical scrubbing?

Placing subcut drains intra-operatively in high risk patients

What constitutes best practice intra-operatively to minimise SSI

What are the compliance rates of surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists to infection prevention peri-operatively? This study in a maltese hospital assesses these compliance rates

Our website www.surginfection.com was used as part of a blended learning initiative in our local hospital. We report on the use of audit to tailor make targeted educational interventions as well as detail website acess data for the first 6 weeks following it going live online.

Could patient education improve infection control practices with regards to IV lines in surgical patients? This study exmaines a cohort of surgical patients with peripheral iv lines and determines the level of patient awareness with regard to the indication for insertion

Is it a case of the more surgical checklists the better? Following on from the SSSL peri-operative checklist from the WHO, this team of researchers from the Netherlands examine whether a checklist encompassing both pre- and post-operative phases of a patients in-hospital journey can decrease adverse surgical events

This study is a randomised controlled multicentre trial from the USA, published in the NEJM. In it it compares chlorhexidine-alcohol against povidone-iodine to determine which is most effective as pre-operative surgical site antisepsis in prevention of surgical site infection

This study, published in the ANZ J Surgery 2010 is a randomized controlled trial assessing whether the wearing of face masks by non scrubbed personnel in operating theatres is in fact associated with a decreased risk of SSI to the patient

This study published in the Am J Surg in June 2010 (epub ahead of print) is an assessment in two US hospitals of compliance to best practice in terms of surgical prophylaxis choice, timing and duration, as well as maintenance of patient normothermia intra-operatively

This study published in the New England Journal of Medicine 2010 examines whether eradication of staph aureus in patients colonised leads to decreased healthcare-association infection by S. aureus

A study of CT sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing necrotising soft tissue infection

A study of nearly 3,500 skin lesion exicisons examining factors and practice associated with an increased SSI rate.

Recently the UK department of Health recommended that doctors should not wear neckties. However here in Ireland it remains commonplace for ties to be worn. What should the medical profession be wearing?

Published in the Journal of Hospital Infection in 2002, this comprehensive review focusses on current practice in operating theatres, and elucidates how much of what we do is evidence-based, and how much is simply based on ritual

Published in the World Journal of Surgery in 2009, this randomised, double blinded trial compares diathermy and scalpel incisions across a range of general surgical procedures and reviews over outcomes such as operation time and wound infection rates

Published in the Annals of Surgery in 2008, this trial uses multivariate statistical analysis assessing timing of administration of 1.5g Cefuroxime as surgical prophylaxis and measuring SSI incidence. It found a significant decrease in the odds of SSI when antimicrobial prophylaxis was administered between 59 and 30 mins pre-incision

A number of guidelines exist with regards best practice intra-operatively. We review these guidelines, deliniating those most important to surgical trainees. We further examine whether these guidelines are evidence based in randomised control trials, or whether they are based upon behaviours and rituals accepted in the operating theatre