A Practical Tool for Surveillance of Surgical-Site Infections: A 5-Year Experience in Orthopedic Surgeries

Abstract

Continuous surveillance of surgical-site infection (SSI) is labor intensive. We developed a semiautomatic surveillance system partly assisted by surgeons. Most patients who developed postdischarge SSI were readmitted, which allowed us to limit postdischarge surveillance to this group. This procedure significantly reduced workload while maintaining high sensitivity and specificity for SSI diagnosis. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:610–613