Orthopaedic Surgical Site Infection Surveillance

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Orthopaedic Surgical Site Infection
Surveillance   The Orthopaedic major joint
patients are screened for MRSA at the
Pre-assessment clinic. Since April 1st until
October 31st out of 384 patients, 11 have been
found to be positive. These patients are given
an eradication regime to reduce their
colonisation before surgery and the levels of
MRSA have been significantly reduced on the
elective ward, see South Crofty results.   In
addition all Major hip and knee replacement
patients are audited for their infection rate via
the mandatory national surgical site surveillance
process. The results achieved so far  
0 391 hips
0.5 619 knees
  These are very good outcomes, being well below
the rates of comparable trusts, however this
surveillance only includes up to the 30 days post
operation and any infections developing after
that time frame are not identified.