Key result
Optimizing patient oxygen, core temperature, and blood sugar helps prevent surgical site infections.
Why the study?
Surgical site infections remain a major postoperative complication despite bacterial contamination of all surgical wounds, highlighting the importance of host response in infection rates.
Optimizing host physiological factors such as oxygenation, body temperature, and blood glucose can help reduce the risk of surgical site infections.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support perioperative SSI prevention; hypothesis-generating from Level 5 evidence and requires prospective confirmation.
More than 30 million surgical procedures are performed annually in the United States, and surgical site infections (SSIs) remain a major postoperative complication. Although bacteria contaminate all surgical wounds, not all wounds become infected. In most cases, the host response eradicates the microbes. The patient's (ie, host's) responsiveness, therefore, is an important variable in the equation of factors that influence the rate of infection. Optimizing the patient's physiological condition can help prevent SSIs. Initiatives that show promise in reducing SSI rates include use of supplemental oxygen, maintenance of core body temperature, and rigorous management of blood sugar. Perioperative nurses play an important role as the patient's infection control advocate.
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Fry et al. (2007) conducted a review in Surgical site infections. Optimizing physiological condition (supplemental oxygen, core body temperature, blood sugar) was evaluated. Optimizing the patient's physiological condition, including the use of supplemental oxygen, maintenance of core body temperature, and rigorous management of blood sugar, can help prevent surgical site infections.
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