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Magill, S. S., O’Leary, E., Janelle, S. J., Thompson, D. L., Dumyati, G., Nadle, J., ... & Ray, S.

M. (2018). Changes in prevalence of health care–associated infections in US Hospitals. New England Journal of Medicine, 379(18), 1732-1744.

A survey that was carried out in the United States in 2011 indicated that 4% of patients who are hospitalized have health-care infections. The survey was conducted again in 2015 to evaluate the prevalence of the infections during a period when there was great national attention to prevent them. Twenty-five hospitals in the Emerging Infections Program sites in 10 states were utilized and those that engaged in the 2011 survey were prioritized. Every health care facility chose a day when a random sample of patients was selected for assessment. Individuals who are trained evaluated their medical records based on the definitions of health care associated infections developed in 2011. IN 2015, 12,299 patients were assessed compared to 11,228 that were assessed in 2011. This study concluded that the number of health care-associated infections in 2015 was lower than those identified in 2011. To continue with this progress, it is important to prioritize on safely utilizing equipment and product.

Zuarez-Easton, S., Zafran, N., Garmi, G., & Salim, R. (2017). Postcesarean wound infection:

prevalence, impact, prevention, and management challenges. International journal of women's health, 9, 81.

Surgical site infection is a very common complication that develops after cesarean section. It has both physical and emotional consequences to the mother and is a huge financial burden to the healthcare system. There is an increase in the global cesarean section rate therefore surgical site infections are expected to increase. Wound dressing is one of the preventative strategies that can be utilized in preventing infections. Another strategy is skin closure. A meta-analysis that was conducted recently indicated that suture is more effective compared to staples in decreasing the incidence of wound separations.

Chu, K., Maine, R., & Trelles, M. (2015). Cesarean section surgical site infections in sub-

Saharan Africa: a multi-country study from Medecins Sans Frontieres. World journal of surgery, 39(2), 350-355.

Surgical site infections (SSI) result to post-surgical mortality and morbidity and can be a key indicator of the quality of the surgical process. This study aimed at assessing post-operative SSI after a caesarian section (CS) has been conducted. The study utilized data from emergency obstetric programs from three countries which were Sierra Leone, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo. The SSI prevalence for the 1,276 women who underwent CS was 7.3%. The median stay for the women who developed SSI was 21 days compared to 7 days of the women who didn’t have SSI. Some of the risk factors associated with SSI include premature membrane rupture, neonatal death and young age. The study concluded that it incidents of SSI can be reduced through utilizing perioperative antibiotics, sterilizing equipment and using clean water. Simple data collection tools should be very helpful for policy makers to assess the quality of control assurance surgical programs in various nations.

Kapadia, B. H., Berg, R. A., Daley, J. A., Fritz, J., Bhave, A., & Mont, M. A. (2016).

Periprosthetic joint infection. The Lancet, 387(10016), 386-394.

Periprosthetic joint infections are a complication that develops after arthroplasty. The rise in the prevalence of diseases such as diabetes and obesity has led to an increase of the rate of periprosthetic joint infections. In an attempt to address this problem, various preventive measures have been implemented. The preventive measures include skin decontamination and glycaemic control. Surgical management practices with a great emphasis on equipment and products have also been refined. This article concludes that prosthetic joint infection can be efficiently managed with various great preventive measures and treatment options.

Weinshel, K., Dramowski, A., Hajdu, Á., Jacob, S., Khanal, B., Zoltán, M., ... & Singh, N.

(2015). Gap analysis of infection control practices in low-and middle-income countries. infection control & hospital epidemiology, 36(10), 1208-1214.

Healthcare-associated infections are greater in low and middle income nations compared to higher income nations. This leads to greater patient mortality and morbidity and is a financial burden to the healthcare system. Six international sites located in various countries were utilized to acquire data for this study. The countries include Nepal, South Africa, Greece, Hungary, India, Nepal and Argentina. The study concluded that adhering to the set infection control practices is a great way of reducing the rate of health-associated infections. Other improvement opportunities exist and they include antibiotic stewardship and utilizing surgical instrument process. In addition, hand hygiene must be observed while handling patients.

Bischoff, P., Kubilay, N. Z., Allegranzi, B., Egger, M., & Gastmeier, P. (2017). Effect of laminar

airflow ventilation on surgical site infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 17(5), 553-561.

The following study compares laminar airflow ventilation and conventional ventilation and evaluates their efficiency in decreasing the risk of surgical site infections. Information was acquired from Medline, Embase and the medical databases of WHO. 1947 records were utilized in this study. Data that was acquired from two investigators was not conclusive therefore more discussion was conducted. According to the results obtained from this study, there is no evidence that supports that laminar airflow is more efficient compared to conventional turbulent ventilation in reducing the risk of SSIs in abdominal surgery and total hip. Decision makers and the hospital management should therefore not consider laminar airflow as an efficient strategy of decreasing the risk of SSIs. This means that the equipment should not be put in the operating rooms since this is just a financial burden to the organization that does not reduce SSIs’s risk.