From the patient ’s perspective , an infection delays healing , can increase time away from work or family , and can cause additional pain and complications ( eg , sepsis , long-term disabilities , death ) .
urgical site infections ( SSIs ) continue to cause significant patient harm despite many advances in Sinfection prevention .
The negative effects of SSIs on morbidity , mortality , and the cost of care has kept SSI reduction a top priority for health care organizations worldwide .
A 2011 systematic review found that approximately 55 % of SSIs in the United States may be preventable by using evidence -based guidelines .
Effects of preoperative skin preparation on postoperative wound infection rates: a prospective study of 3 skin preparation protocols.
OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of different skin preparation solutions on  surgical-site infection rates .  DESIGN Three skin preparations were compared by means of a sequential implementation design . Each agent was adopted as the preferred modality for a 6-month period for all general surgery cases . Period 1 used a povidone-iodine scrub-paint combination ( Betadine ) with an isopropyl alcohol application between these steps , period 2 used 2 % chlorhexidine and 70 % isopropyl alcohol ( ChloraPrep ) , and period 3 used iodine povacrylex in isopropyl alcohol ( DuraPrep ) . Surgical-site infections were tracked for 30 days as part of ongoing data collection for the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project initiative . The primary outcome was the overall rate of surgical-site infection by 6-month period performed in an intent-to-treat manner . SETTING Single large academic medical center . PATIENTS All adult general surgery patients . RESULTS The study comprised 3,209 operations . The lowest infection rate was seen in period 3 , with iodine povacrylex in isopropyl alcohol as the preferred preparation method ( 3.9 % , compared with 6.4 % for period 1 and 7.1 % for period 2 ; P = .002 ) . In subgroup analysis , no difference in outcomes was seen between patients prepared with povidone-iodine scrub-paint and those prepared with iodine povacrylex in isopropyl alcohol , but patients in both these groups had significantly lower surgical-site infection rates , compared with rates for patients prepared with 2 % chlorhexidine and 70 % isopropyl alcohol ( 4.8 % vs 8.2 % ; P = .001 ) . CONCLUSIONS Skin preparation solution is an important factor in the prevention of surgical-site infections .  Iodophor-based compounds may be superior to chlorhexidine for this purpose in general surgery patients
From the patient ’s perspective , an infection delays healing , can increase time away from work or family , and can cause additional pain and complications ( eg , sepsis , long-term disabilities , death ) .
urgical site infections ( SSIs ) continue to cause significant patient harm despite many advances in Sinfection prevention .
The negative effects of SSIs on morbidity , mortality , and the cost of care has kept SSI reduction a top priority for health care organizations worldwide .
A 2011 systematic review found that approximately 55 % of SSIs in the United States may be preventable by using evidence -based guidelines .