About Surgical Site Infections

If you're a journalist covering health stories, these are sobering statistics:

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) affect 250,000 patients annually, and account for 9,000 to 12,000 deaths in Canada every year.
Surgical site infections are the third most common form of hospital-acquired infection (after urinary tract infections and pneumonia).
Surgical site infections cost the Canadian healthcare system over $200 million annually—and yet 40 to 60% are considered preventable.

And if you're a patient who develops a surgical site infection? You are:

Two times more likely to die than patients with no infection
Five times more likely to be readmitted to hospital
60% more likely to enter the intensive care unit
Likely to spend about eight additional days in the hospital
Are at increased risk of repeat surgery.

Beyond the obvious costs in human terms, surgical site infections have very real financial costs, both for individual hospitals and for the healthcare system in general. Surgical site infections:

Cost the Canadian healthcare system over $200 million annually
Cost hospitals over $4,000 extra for each patient with an surgical site infection—not including the costs of additional surgeries or supplies
Consume over 400,000 additional hospital days annually, causing surgical backlogs, postponements and increased surgical wait-times

What Is a Surgical Site Infection?

A surgical site infection develops after surgery in the same area where the surgery was performed.

Surgical site infections can develop up to 30 days after surgery is performed, or up to a year after a joint replacement or other "implant" surgery (such as an organ transplant).

Surgical site infections affect either the incision or deep tissue at the operation site.

There are three types of surgical site infection:

Superficial incisional surgical site infections occur when the skin or subcutaneous tissue around the surgical site is infected.
Deep incisional surgical site infections occur when any deep soft tissues (such as muscle layers) of the incision are infected following surgery.
Organ/space surgical site infections occur when any other part of the body (excluding the skin incision, fascia or muscle layers) shows signs of infection following surgery. These can include organs or the space around organs.

About one to three out of every 100 people who has surgery will develop a surgical site infection.

Causes of Surgical Site Infections

Surgical site infections are caused by bacteria entering a surgical incision or wound.

The bacteria that cause a surgical site infection are often found in or on a patient's own body.

In most cases, the type of bacteria that causes a surgical site infection depends on the type of surgery a patient receives.

Some surgeries carry a higher risk of leading to surgical site infections because some areas of the body, such as the stomach, naturally have higher levels of bacteria.

Bacterias that commonly cause surgical site infections include Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (often known as E. coli).

Symptoms of Surgical Site Infections

Symptoms can include:

Redness, swelling, pain or heat at the incision site
Drainage of cloudy fluid
Fever
Discoloured skin around the incision
Foul odour

Learn More

With an estimated death rate of 4 to 5%, many hospitals across Canada have launched formal programs to reduce surgical site infections.

Follow the link to learn how healthcare facilities currently prevent surgical site infections.

For further information, read about the Ontario government's programs for reporting on eight key patient safety indicators, including surgical site infections.