Surveying the Surveillance: Surgical Site Infections Excluded by the January 2013 Updated Surveillance Definitions

The updated 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Healthcare Safety Network definitions for surgical site infections (SSIs) reduced the duration of prolonged surveillance from 1 year to 90 days and defined which procedure types require prolonged surveillance. Applying the updated 2013 SSI definitions to cases analyzed using the pre-2013 surveillance definitions excluded 10% of previously identified SSIs.