Literature review
The issue about surgical site infection has been of great concern to several people majority the scientists who have gone to great extents in the attempt to establish a long lasting solution. Several articles addressing the subject of surgical site infection (SSI) has been tackled from different angles with different scientists and researchers coming up with data and statistics. The easiest place to source out such information being the internet where several detailed articles are uploaded for the internet users.
The first article to analyze is by Fuler (2010). It proves very important in getting the relevant information regarding the problem in question. The article gives earlier perception of wound infection or rather opening infection during a medical surgery in a healthcare setting. During the 17th century, wound infection in a hospital setting was something common to an extent where cases of purulence and erythema were considered a wound healing process. Among the variety of infections present in the United States, SSI is the second most common type of infection thus showing the extent of seriousness and urgency needed in addressing the issue. Moreover, surgical site infections increase the rate mortality, morbidity, and increased cost of curing a certain type of disease after an operation. The treatment time span in cases of wound infection is also increased making the healing process traumatizing and consequently expensive in different aspects. Study carried out in 1990 by cohort indicate that 60% of patients who get wound infection during a surgery have a five times more likelihood of being readmitted back to the hospital within six months after the surgery. It is critical to note that despite the efficiency of prophylactic antibiotics in handling surgical site infection, other important factors must be considered. Some of this factors include; surgeon's experience and hospital's environment.
Information from the Center of Disease Control (2010) proves resourceful in this research. The articles closely analyze several fundamental principles that should be on the forefront of the minds of professionals in the choice of preoperative prophylactic antibiotics. The first consideration is knowledge of the most likely bacteria to infect the wound of the patient. The choice of the prophylactic antibiotic should be search that it is active against the most likely bacteria to infect the involved patient. It means that research and data should be available concerning the hospital environment to have knowledge on the aptest bacteria to infect a patient's wound during the procedure. The other consideration is the lifetime period of the agent used during the procedure. It should be active during the whole period to ensure efficiency in preventing infection before the wound is closed. In the recent times, prophylaxis is mostly used in organ transplant. Furthermore, there is no major importance of using the antibiotics after the first 24 hours unless it is a heart surgery.
The other article that offers critical information about this research is the one by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The major issue about this article is maintenance of wound hygiene during and after carrying out a specific procedure. A research by Culver (2013) led to the knowledge that dirty wounds are more susceptible to infections compared to clean wounds. Hygiene of the wounds consists of disinfection before the procedure, clean equipments and hands during the procedure, and the level of hygiene maintained after closing up the wound. Clean bandages should be used to cover the wounds and changed after a specific period depending on the discharge on the healing process of the wound. Environmental cleanliness is also tackled. The hospital care setting should have a good ventilation system which allows for good air circulations in the patient's room.
Wenzel's article on infections associated with health care setting also provides vital information regarding the topic. During the early periods of the 21st century, there was a rather limited number of infections concerning the surgical site infection prevention techniques. However, the then used agents proved effective in most of the cases. Nurses' role in the wound hygiene process is also analyzed. It helps one see the importance of hygiene maintenance when a nurse is dealing with a patient. More light is shone on the aspect of clean hands and equipments that are used when attending to the patient. Nurses are the ones who prepare the necessary equipments needed by the surgeon to carry out the procedure. Therefore, they should ensure that proper sterilization of the equipments is done inclusive of the surfaces where the tools used in surgery are placed. Hand-cleaning before attending to any patient is important in ensuring that infections are not transferred from one patient to the other or from contaminated surfaces to the patient.
Another important aspect of the research is tackled by Friedman (2013). The importance of more advanced and continuous research is emphasized by the adaptation of the bacteria after a prolonged use of a certain type of antibiotics. Bacteria have the tendency of developing a defence mechanism after the use of a certain type of antibiotics for some time. Therefore, this means that a regular change should be made on the antibiotics used on patients after a specific period to avoid such scenarios of bacteria developing resistance to the antibiotics. Advanced research should be carried out to find effective and efficient agents to deal with the situation.
However, inconsistency in the data and information provided by the article can easily be noticed. In the information provided by the first article, it is clear that 60% of the patients who are subjected to infection comeback with infection-related illness for further treatment (Lynn, 2011). It is clear that some of the patients die after being victims of surgical infection wounds. What happens to the 40% who do not get ill after a surgical procedure has been performed to them? Research should be done to find out if there are superior human beings in naturally fighting the bacteria has got into the wound. The other aspect that tends leaves some questions unanswered knows the bacteria that are more likely to infect people in varied regions and therefore use a specific type of antibiotic.
In conclusion, the information provided by the analyzed articles clearly indicates how serious the matter is now and not only in the United States but the whole world. It is the second most common type of infection after urinary tract infection. The recorded morbidity and mortality rates due to surgical site infections are of an alarming rate. The cost and time of healing required for patients who face the predicament is a backward step to attaining a healthy society and improving economic status of a particular nation. More investment on research should be made to a permanent solution.
References
Fuller, J. R. (2010). Surgical technology: Principles and practice. St. Louis, Mo: Saunders Elsevier.
Lynn, P., Taylor, C., & LeBon, M. (2011). Taylor's clinical nursing skills: A nursing process approach. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children's Health (Great Britain), & National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Great Britain). (2008). Surgical site infection: Prevention and treatment of surgical site infection. London: RCOG.
N. D. Friedman, K. Styles, A. M. Gray, J. Low, and E. Athan, “Compliance with surgical antibiotic prophylaxis at an Australian teaching hospital,” American Journal of Infection Control, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 71–74, 2013. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar.
Press, S. H., Northern Kentucky University., & ProQuest Information and Learning Company. (2010). Surgical site infections and the CDC guidelines: Are these guidelines being utilized.
