Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Manager's Guide to Infection Control - May 2014

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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4 8 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P AT 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 AY 2 0 1 4 Y ou might not think a shivering patient and a surgical site infec- tion go together, but they go hand in hand. As hangovers are to happy hours, SSIs are the delayed and dangerous reactions to hypothermia. Besides being one of the more unpleasant side effects of surgery, hypothermia is one of the most common risk factors associated with SSIs. But what does a cold patient have to do with a wound infection? Hypothermia may increase patients' susceptibility to perioperative wound infections by caus- ing vasoconstriction and impaired immunity. As the body's core temperature declines, so does its antibody- and cell-mediated immune defenses, and the P A T I E N T W A R M I N G Active warming is proven to cut down on surgical site infections. Dan O'Connor | Editor-in-Chief INCREASED WOUND INFECTION Even mild hypothermia triples the risk of surgical site infection. Hypothermia's Direct Link to SSIs 1405_InfectionControl_Layout 1 5/2/14 11:06 AM Page 48

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