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tie the top, but not the bottom. During cases, we require anybody who
has not scrubbed in to wear a buttoned-up scrub jacket. Monitor
wound-care competency. Any staff member
who does post-op checks on wounds should
complete a wound-care competency assess-
ment every year and be able to pass a quiz.
You should also conduct environmental
rounds to monitor the temperature and humidity in perioperative
areas.
Finally, be sure to document all SSIs that meet the CDC event
definition (tinyurl.com/ns4pcy9). You can use paper worksheets,
document them on a spreadsheet or use another kind of database. But
it's important to always document in the same manner, so you can
easily reference data and monitor trends.
Stay on course
As new evidence-based guidelines come forth, we'll evaluate them
and implement them if we think they'll help. We know the robust pro-
gram we currently have in place has improved patient care and safety,
and we want to continue to get better. OSM
7
For examples of SSI
surveillance documents, see
outpatientsurgery.net/
resources/forms
Ms. Groven (lori.groven@tria.com) is the infection preventionist at TRIA Orthopaedic Center in
Bloomington, Minn.
