Online Tool Helps Reduce Number of Surgical Site Infections

A new website, the Safe Surgery Initiative (please see Related Links below), provides users with customizable tools geared to educate providers and patients about preventing surgical site infections (SSI).

The web-based program is designed to engage patients, healthcare providers, health plans, and employers, providing educational tools to encourage patients to take an active role in their own health care. A team of representatives from a leading health care system, a national insurer, a large multi-national employer, and a business coalition were consulted in the development of the program content, with academic guidance and program management provided by the Thomas Jefferson University (Jefferson, Philadelphia, PA, USA).

The toolkit is customizable in several different ways; patient-centered resources include general information about how to initiate meaningful conversations with the doctor, how to prepare for surgery, and what signs to look for after surgery to help avoid an SSI. Providers, health plans, and employers can select tools that are most relevant to their organization, and can customize the tools with their affiliation logo. The toolkit also includes resources for health care providers to help foster awareness among staff and clinicians of key processes and practices that can prevent SSIs. The Safe Surgery Initiative is a development of Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems (JJHCS; Piscataway, NJ, USA).

"This important resource provides customizable, bilingual patient materials in one place for everyone involved with a patient's recovery after surgery,” said David Nash, MD, MBA, dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health. "By making the right information available when it's most needed, people can become more engaged in their own health care.”

"Educating the public on the importance of following patient safety guidelines, such as practicing extra cleanliness prior to surgery, can proactively reduce SSIs and help ensure a safer hospital experience,” added Ingrid Clark Durfy, president of strategic account management at JJHCS. "The Safe Surgery Initiative shares the goals of a number of broader nationwide initiatives that support improving patient care and reducing cost, such as those supported by the National Quality Forum and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.”

SSIs are probably the most frequent healthcare-associated infection (HAI) after asymptomatic bacteriuria, and represent a high burden on patients and hospitals in terms of morbidity, mortality, prolonged length of hospital stay, and additional costs. Each year, approximately 500,000 surgical patients develop SSIs in the United States alone.

Related Links:
Safe Surgery Initiative
Thomas Jefferson University
Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems