Summary
WE would like to present the results of a prospective study of the wound infection rate in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, over an eleven month period. This study consisted of 602 consecutive patients operated on between January 1983 and November 1983 in the New Operating Theatre Suite opened in Janary 1982. An overall infection rate of 4.1% was achieved.
One of the briefs of the study was to compare the results with a comparable study of 617 operations carried out over a similar period in 1981 in the Old Theatre (O’Malleyet al, 1984). In this latter study an overall infection rate of 7.2% was reported.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cruse, P. J. E., Foord, R. 1980. The epidemiology of wound infection. A ten year prospective study of 62,939 wounds. Surg. Clin. N. Am. 60, 27.
Davidson, A. I. G., Smith, G., Smylie, M. G. 1971. A bacteriological study of the immediate environment of a surgical wound Br. J. Surg. 5B, 326.
Dipiro, J. I., Bivins, B.. A., Record, K. E., Bell, R. M., Griffin, W. O. 1983. Prophylactic use of antimicrobials in surgery. Current Problems in Surgery, Feb. 1983.
Gilmore, O. J. A. 1981. Wound healing; the problem of wound infection. In: Current Surgical Practice, Vol. 3. Hadfield, J. and Hobsley, M. (eds.). Arnold, E. (London), 95, 108.
Goldring, J., McNaught, W., Scott, A. and Gillespie, G. 1975. Prophylactic oral antimicrobial agents in elective colonic surgery. A controlled trial. Lancet ii, 997.
Keighley, M. R. B., Arabi, Y., Williams, J. A., Young, D. and Burdon, D. W. 1979. Comparison between systemic and oral antimicrobial prophylaxis in colo-rectal surgery. Lancet i, 894.
O’Malley, M. J., Duignan, J. P. and Lavelle, J. S. R. 1984. The incidence of wound sepsis in a community hospital. Ir. J. Med. Sc. 153, 123.
Stone, H. H., Hooper, C. A., Kolb, L. B., Geheber, C. E. and Dawkins, E. J. 1976. Antibiotic prophylaxis in gastric, biliary and colonic surgery. Ann. Surg. 184, 443.
Strachan, C. J. L., Black, J., Powis, S. J. A., Waterworth, T. A., Wise, R., Wilkinson, A. R., Burdon, D. W., Severn, M., Mitra, B. and Norcott, H. 1977. Prophylactic use of Cefazolin against wound sepsis after cholecystectomy. Br. Med. J. i, 1254.
Tanner, W. A., Ali, A. E., Collins, P. G., Fahy, Ann M., Lane, B. E. and McCormack, T. 1980. Single dose intra-rectal Metronidazole as prophylaxis against wound infection following emergency appendicectomy. Br. J. Surg. 67, 809.
Washington, J. A., Dearing, W. H., Judd, E. S. and Elveback, L. R. 1974. The effect of pre-operative antibiotic regime on the development of infection after intestinal surgery: a prospective randomised double-blind study. Ann. Surg. 1980, 567.
Willis, A. T., Ferguson, I. R., Jones, P. H., Phillips, K. D., Tearle, P. V., Fiddian, R. V., Graham, D. F., Hardland, D. H. C., Hughes, D. F. R., Knight, D., Mee, W. M., Pashby, N., Rothwell-Jackson, R. L., Sachdeva, A. K., Sutch, I., Kilbey, C. and Edwards, D. 1977. Metronidazole in the prevention and treatment of bacteroides infections in elective colonic sugery. Br. Med. J. i, 607.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Buckley, N., Lavelle, J.S.R. Wound infection rates in a community hospital a second study. I.J.M.S. 154, 354–357 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02937181
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02937181