Abstract:
This prospective cohort research is aimed to study the rate of surgical site
infection, the association between the surgical site infection and relating risk factors,
the comparison of length of hospital admission and direct costs between patients with
surgical site infection and those without. The infection assessment was carried out by
using surgical site infection diagnostic criteria from US Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) 1992. Samples were 122 patients admitted to a tertiary care hospital for
abdominal surgery (gall bladder, large intestine, liver, pancreas and bile duct) between
October 2004 and July 2005. Data were collected from patient interviews, surgical
wound observation, medical record from surgeons and nurses during treatment, and
telephone follow-up. Frequency distribution and percentage were applied to the data.
Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, independent t-test, and multiple logistic regression
were used as inferential statistical analysis.
The results showed that 14.75% of samples developed surgical site infection,
83.3% during admission and 16.7% after discharged from hospital. The average time
for post-operation infection was 9.67 days (SD = 5.871). Blood albumin levels were
less than 35 g/L, prolonged operation time and history of abdominal surgery were
associated with surgical site infection at the level of significant of 0.05. Patients with
surgical site infection stayed post-operationally at the hospital more extensively than
those without surgical site infection at the level of significant of 0.05, especially those
undergoing gall bladder and large intestine operation at the level of significant of
0.01. Patients with surgical site infection underwent gall bladder operation showed
higher cost of antibiotic drug treatment than those without surgical site infection at the
level of significant of 0.01. Patients with surgical site infection underwent large
intestine operation showed more direct cost than those without surgical site infection
at the level of significant of 0.01. Therefore screening a patient prior to under going
abdominal operation should be recommended in the process of nursing care plan.