New global guidelines on surgical site infections out

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

While most healthcare systems are trying to stay afloat in this Coronavirus 19 pandemic, a new nine-point set of rules to reduce surgical site infections (SSIs) have been published and which should be strictly observed by hospitals around the world.

The “Global Surgery Guideline for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection” published in the March 25, 2020 issue of the “British Journal of Surgery” was a collaboration among clinicians from 15 poor to developed countries gathered by the University of Birmingham-National Institute for Health Research on Global Surgery Unit (UoB-NIHRGSU).

“These are the practical steps that all hospitals should urgently take to reduce avoidable infections and the spread of anti-microbial/antibiotic resistance,” UoB-NIHRGSU consultant surgeon/senior lecturer Dr Aneel Bhangu wrote in an email interview.

The first rule is that all patients before undergoing surgery “should have had full body wash with clean water.”

Other salient features aside from the proper handling of antibiotic treatment during the surgery are “ensuring (that) the scrub team decontaminate their hands before surgery using antiseptic surgical solution” and the provision of “supplemental oxygen during surgery under general anaesthetic.”

Bhangu explained that SSIs oocur on the part of the body where the surgery has been performed.

SSIs are the commonest hospital acquired infection around the world due to microorganisms within the patient’s skin and his insides or from “gastrointestinal spillage” aside from a “contaminated environment” such as surgical equipment and tools even if the hospital theatre staff observe high levels of cleanliness and hygiene.

Quoting a 2018 66-country study on SSI, Bhangu said there are 20 million SSI patients, 14.7 million from poor and developing states each year.

Most of them undergo abdominal surgery. A big number of them die within 30 days.