1. Decreasing Surgical Site Infections after Ventral Hernia Repair: A Quality-Improvement Initiative.
- Author
-
Cherla DV, Holihan JL, Flores-Gonzalez JR, Lew DF, Escamilla RJ, Ko TC, Kao LS, and Liang MK
- Subjects
- Adult, Female, Herniorrhaphy statistics & numerical data, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Retrospective Studies, Treatment Outcome, Hernia, Ventral surgery, Herniorrhaphy adverse effects, Surgical Wound Infection epidemiology, Surgical Wound Infection prevention & control
- Abstract
Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) remain prevalent after ventral hernia repair (VHR). In 2013-2014, a safety-net academic hospital initiated a two-pronged quality-improvement (QI) project: (1) Development and implementation of evidence-based guidelines; and (2) creation of a specialized hernia clinic to manage challenging patients and complex ventral hernias. Our objective was to decrease SSI rates after elective VHR., Methods: The primary outcome was SSI 30 days post-operatively, which was assessed in aggregate and with a stratified analysis based on case complexity using the χ
2 test., Results: A total of 399 patients in the pre-QI period and 390 patients in post-QI period (178 patients in general surgery clinics; 212 patients in the specialty hernia clinic) underwent VHR. Patients treated in the post-QI period were less likely to experience an SSI (13.5% vs. 1.5%; p < 0.001). On subgroup analysis of the post-QI clinics, specialty hernia clinic patients had an even lower risk of SSI than those in general surgery clinics (1.4% versus 1.7%)., Conclusions: The QI initiatives of evidence-based guidelines and the specialty hernia clinic were associated with lower SSI rates. Differences in peri-operative management included differences in patient selection and pre-operative preparation and increased use of synthetic mesh and laparoscopy. Future studies must investigate the long-term outcomes of these initiatives.- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF