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I N F E C T I O N
P R E V E N T I O N
losing weight, and diabetic patients can do the same by getting their
blood sugar under control. These factors are patient-dependent, and
attaining them doesn't always happen overnight, so unless their
planned surgery is a non-urgent elective procedure that can be postponed indefinitely, they are often outside of the allotted schedule.
Screening patients for Staphylococcus aureus, on the other hand, is
entirely in your hands, and can have an immediate and useful impact.
Patients must make a pre-surgical visit ahead of time for the nasal
swab. Be sure to get test results quickly. As far as pre-op testing and
treatment are concerned, it requires some advance planning — decolonizing carriers with the intranasal mupirocin before admission and surgery takes 5 days — but it beats the alternative, as staph is carried on
the skin and can easily get into the wound of orthopedic surgery
patients. OSM
Ms. Greene (linda.greene@rochestergeneral.org) is director of infection prevention
for the Rochester General Health System in Rochester, N.Y.
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | M A R C H 2013
