Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T15:34:40.733Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Surveillance for Surgical Site Infections: The Uses of Antibiotic Exposure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Deborah S. Yokoe*
Affiliation:
Channing Laboratory and Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Richard Platt
Affiliation:
Channing Laboratory and Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Community Health Plan, Boston, Massachusetts
*
180 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Conventional methods of surveillance for surgical site infections are resource intensive, thus creating an incentive to develop simpler alternatives. Antibiotic exposure may serve as a satisfactory marker for a physician’s belief that infection is present and, therefore, may be a more efficient, and perhaps more accurate, measure than identification of an explicit diagnosis in the medical record. Surveillance strategies that use antibiotic exposure may provide resource-efficient adjuncts for surveillance of surgical site infections or be used in selected circumstances as substitutes for conventional surveillance methods.

Type
Readers’ Forum
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1994

References

1. Haley, R, Culver, D, White, J, et al The efficacy of infection surveillance and control programs in preventing nosocomial infections in US hospitals. Am J Epidemiol 1985:121:182205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Olson, M, O’Connor, M, Schwa&k Surgical wound infections: a 5-year prospective study of 20,193 wounds at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. Ann Surg 1984;199:253259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Olson, M, Lee, J. Continuous E-year wound infection surveillance. Results, advantages, and unanswered questions. Arch Surg 1990;125:794803.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Cruse, P, Foord, R. A 5-year prospective study of 23,649 surgical wounds. Arch Surg 1973;107:206210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. Accreditation Manual for Hospitals. Chicago, IL: Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals; 1976.Google Scholar
6. Horan, T, Gaynes, R, Martone, W, Jarvis, W, Emori, G. CDC definitions of nosocomial surgical site infections, 1992: a modification of CDC definitions of surgical wound infections. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1992;13:606608.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Freeman, J, McGowan, J. Methodologic issues in hospital epidemiology. I. Rates, case-finding, and interpretation. Rev Infect Dis 1981;3:658667.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8. McGowan, J, Finland, M. Infection and antibiotic usage at Boston City Hospital: changes in prevalence during the decade 1964 1973. J Infect Dis 1974;129:421428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9. Freeman, J, Rosner, B, McGowan, J. Adverse effects of nosocomial infection. J Infect Dis 1979;14:732740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Haley, R, Schaberg, D, McClish, D, et al The accuracy of retrospective chart review in measuring nosocomial infection rates: results of validation studies in pilot hospitals. Am J Epidemiol 1980;111:516533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11. Eickhoff, T, Brachman, P, Bennett, J, Brown, J. Surveillance of nosocomial infections in community hospitals. I. Surveillance methods, effectiveness, and initial results. J Infect Dis 1969;12:305317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Cardo, D, Falk, P, Mayhall, G. Validation of surgical wound surveillance. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1993;14:211215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13. Wenzel, R, Osterman, C, Hunting, K, Gwaltney, J. Hospital-acquired infections. I. Surveillance in a university hospital. Am J Epidemiol 1976;103:251260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14. Bimbaum, D, King, L. Disadvantages of infection surveillance by medical record chart review. Am J Infect Control 1981;9:1517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Laxson, L, Blaser, M, Parkhurst, S. Surveillance for the detection of nosocomial infections and the potential for nosocomial outbreaks. I. Microbiology culture surveillance is an effective method of detecting nosocomial infection. Am J Infect Control 1984;12:318324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16. Evans, R, Larsen, R, Burke, J, et al Computer surveillance of hospital-acquired infections and antibiotic use. JAMA 1986;256:10071011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17. Brodetick, A, Motomi, M, Nettleman, M, Streed, S, Wenzel, R. Nosocomial infections: validation of surveillance and computer modeling to identify patients at risk. Am J Epidemiol 1990;131:734742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Haley, R, Culver, D, Morgan, WM, White, J, Emori, TG, Hooton, T. Increased recognition of infectious diseases in US hospitals through increased use of diagnostic tests, 1970-1976. Am J Epidemiol 1985;121:168181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19. Hook, E, Hooton, T, Horton, C, Coyle, M, Ramsey, P, Turck, M. Microbiologic evaluation of cutaneous cellulitis in adults. Arch Intern Med 1986;146:295297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20. Duvanel, T Auckanthaler, R, Rohner, P, Harms, M, Saurat, J. Quantitative cultures of biopsy specimens from cutaneous cellulitis. Arch Intern Med 1989;149:293296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21. Feldman, L, Lamson, M, Gallelli, J, Bennett, J. Surveillance of nosocomial infections by antibiotic monitoring. JAMA 1979;241:28062807.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22. Hirschhom, L, Currier, J, Platt, R. Electronic surveillance of antibiotic exposure and coded discharge diagnoses as indicators of postoperative infection and other quality assurance measures. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1993;14:2128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23. Piatt, R, Zucker, J, Zaleznik, D, et al Prophylaxis against wound infection following herniorrhaphy or breast surgery . J Infect Dis 1992;166:556560.Google Scholar
24. Simchen, E, Wax, Y, Pevsner, B, et al The Israeli Study of Surgical Infections (ISSI): I. Methods for developing a standardized surveillance system for a multicenter study of surgical infections. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1988;9:232240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed