ABSTRACT

Background: World over, surgical site infections (SSIs) are one of the most commonly encountered complications after surgery. No study had been done in Jinja regional referral hospital (JRRH) regarding SSIs. Therefore, this study was intended to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with surgical site infections among patients in surgical ward at JRRH. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional was done. A pretested checklist was used to collect data from 120 files of patients who had been admitted and operated on surgical ward 6 months preceding the study. Collected data was entered and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25. Chi square test was done to determine the relationship of SSIs and risk factors. Results were presented in tables and charts. Results: The mean age was 34.6±9.9 (standard deviation) years with majority (70%) being males (N=120). The overall prevalence of SSI was 40%. Age of the patient (X2=13.32; P=0.010), wound class (X2=15.98; P=0.001), and type of surgery (X2=15.43; P=0.009) were found statistically significant. Conclusion and recommendation: The overall prevalence of SSI was 40%. The risk factors associated with SSI were: older age of the patient above 51 years, dirty wound class, and small bowel surgery. It is important to early recognize the risk of developing SSI in patients undergoing surgery, so that preventive measures can be adopted with the aim of reducing infection rates.

  INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction Surgical site infections (SSIs) are infections of the incision or organ or space that occur after surgery typically within 30 days (CDC, 2015).SSIs are directly related to surgical procedures, and are currently one of the most important among the Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) (CDC, 2015).  World over, SSIs are one of the most commonly encountered complications after surgery (Dumville et al., 2015). In a study of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) involving 850,000 general surgeries performed in the USA, it was found that overall incidence of SSI was 1.9%(Leaper & Edmiston, 2017). In Brazil, data on the incidence of SSI range from 1.4% to 38.8%(ANVISA, 2013; Franco, Ercole, & Mattia, 2015).