Health care associated infections are infections that patients may sometimes get when admitted to a hospital.

A surgical site infection (SSI) occurs at the site of a surgical incision. Germs can get into the incision area, and cause an infection. It can develop within 30 days of an operation, or sometimes even up to one year if an implant (such as a knee or hip joint implant) is used. Infections happen because germs are everywhere - on the skin, in the air and on things individuals touch. Most infections are caused by germs found on and in a patient’s body.

Infections can be minor or occasionally they can increase complications that result in a longer length of stay in the hospital, or an increased readmission rate for patients. Postoperative SSIs are the most common health care-associated infections in surgical patients.

Patient safety remains the most important priority for the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and this involves ensuring that patients are not at risk for contracting health care-associated infections. To improve patient safety, TBRHSC is participating in a couple of provincial initiatives; 'Safer Healthcare Now' and the Institute for Healthcare Improvements (IHI) have shared with hospitals a set of best practices in the form of “SSI bundles”. These bundles are a collection of best practices (for example, administration of prophylactic antibiotics, clipping and not shaving of body hair, etc.) that when used together, can reduce the chances of a patient contracting a surgical site infection.

Patients can help reduce the risk for infections by following pre-operative instructions given by the surgeon and health care team. Frequent hand cleaning is another way to prevent the spread of infection. Hand hygiene involves everyone in the hospital including patients.

Hospital SSI-Prevention provides one measure of patient safety and quality of care. The information gathered will assist hospitals with evaluating the effectiveness of their infection prevention and control interventions and make further improvements based on this information. The initial data reported is for hip and knee surgeries as these are common surgeries in hospitals. The SSI-Prevention percentages will be post quarterly.

Click here for TBRHSC Patient Safety Indicators