Role of the nurse in preventing surgical
site infection
Nurses need to be knowledgeable about the
cause, effect and management of SSI to ensure
optimum patient outcomes following surgery.
This can be obtained by reading literature
on the topic, and working closely with the
infection control and audit and surveillance
teams. There is a range of guidance available
to assist nurses in preventing SSI, including the
High Impact Intervention care bundle (DH
2007), SSI quality standards (NICE 2013) and
the WHO (2009b) Surgical Safety Checklist.
NICE (2008) guidance for the prevention and
management of SSI outlines three phases: preoperative,
intra-operative and post-operative
care (Box 1).
The WHO (2009b) Surgical Safety
Checklist is intended to be used as a tool
by clinicians to improve safety during
surgical operations, and reduce unnecessary
deaths and complications. It has introduced
organisational guidelines to reduce patient
harm and decreased complications resulting
from surgery. WHO (2009b) states that
at least half-a-million deaths per year
worldwide would be prevented with effective
implementation of the checklist. The checklist
covers tasks that should be carried out
before induction of anaesthesia, before skin
incision and before the patient leaves the
operating theatre. It is important to ensure
the checklist is not used as a tick-box exercise
and that the actions are implemented. This
can be achieved through educating staff
Role of the nurse in preventing surgical
site infection
Nurses need to be knowledgeable about the
cause, effect and management of SSI to ensure
optimum patient outcomes following surgery.
This can be obtained by reading literature
on the topic, and working closely with the
infection control and audit and surveillance
teams. There is a range of guidance available
to assist nurses in preventing SSI, including the
High Impact Intervention care bundle (DH
2007), SSI quality standards (NICE 2013) and
the WHO (2009b) Surgical Safety Checklist.
NICE (2008) guidance for the prevention and
management of SSI outlines three phases: preoperative,
intra-operative and post-operative
care (Box 1).
The WHO (2009b) Surgical Safety
Checklist is intended to be used as a tool
by clinicians to improve safety during
surgical operations, and reduce unnecessary
deaths and complications. It has introduced
organisational guidelines to reduce patient
harm and decreased complications resulting
from surgery. WHO (2009b) states that
at least half-a-million deaths per year
worldwide would be prevented with effective
implementation of the checklist. The checklist
covers tasks that should be carried out
before induction of anaesthesia, before skin
incision and before the patient leaves the
operating theatre. It is important to ensure
the checklist is not used as a tick-box exercise
and that the actions are implemented. This
can be achieved through educating staff
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