Researchers have recently published the results of a study focused on critical room infection control in the Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, a journal for the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The study found that surgical site infections are actually seasonal, with the number of them increasing in the summer and decreasing in the winter.
The researchers found that when temperatures were 90°F or above, there was an associated 28.9 percent increase in the odds for hospitalization with a surgical site infection.
The Senior author of the study explained, “We show that seasonality of surgical site infections is strongly associated with average monthly temperature. As temperatures rise, risk increases”.
The study was created using data from millions of patient’s information from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which is the largest database of patient discharges from hospitals. This data helped to find every adult hospitalization that had a diagnosis of a surgical site infection between the dates of January 1998 to November 2011. This data was cross-checked with the weather statistics from nearby weather stations, including temperature, rainfall and wind speed.
The researchers discovered that there were 26.5 percent more surgical site infection discharges during August than during the month of January. This percentage was similar across multiple regions, age groups, genders, and types of hospitals.
These specific hospital acquired infections can be a major cause of illness or death after a patient has had surgery, and increase hospital costs for the patient and hospital. This seasonal increase can be reduced by maintaining infection control procedures with the operating room air supply.
With the weather warming up, now is the time to have e-nTech perform infection control verification services to keep your patients safe. Contact us now to schedule an inspection.
