Summary
Background
Currently no national standards exist for the prevention of surgical site infection
(SSI) in cardiac surgery. SSI rates range from 1% to 8% between centres.
Aim
The aim of this study was to explore and characterize variation in approaches to SSI
prevention in the UK and the Republic of Ireland (ROI).
Methods
Cardiac surgery centres were surveyed using electronic web-based questionnaires to
identify variation in SSI prevention at the level of both institution and consultant
teams. Surveys were developed and undertaken through collaboration between the Cardiothoracic
Interdisciplinary Research Network (CIRN), Public Health England (PHE) and the National
Cardiac Benchmarking Collaborative (NCBC) to encompass routine pre-, intra- and postoperative
practice.
Findings
Nineteen of 38 centres who were approached provided data and included responses from
139 consultant teams. There was no missing data from those centres that responded.
The results demonstrated substantial variation in over 40 aspects of SSI prevention.
These included variation in SSI surveillance, reporting of SSI infection rates to
external bodies, utilization of SSI risk prediction tools, and the use of interventions
such as sternal support devices and gentamicin impregnated sponges.
Conclusion
Measured variation in SSI prevention in cardiac centres across the UK and ROI is evidence
of clinical uncertainty as to best practice, and has identified areas for quality
improvement as well as knowledge gaps to be addressed by future research.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 18, 2020
Accepted:
September 11,
2020
Received:
June 16,
2020
Identification
Copyright
Crown Copyright © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Healthcare Infection Society. All rights reserved.
