Between June 2012 and December 2015, there were 8,502 surgical procedures performed on children younger than 18 years at three ambulatory surgical facilities and one hospital-based facility. Together, soft tissue excision, hernia repair, and scrotal/testicular surgeries accounted for 56 percent of procedures during this period. Of all surgeries performed, 21 resulted in surgical-site infections (SSI) that met the 2010 National Healthcare Safety Network definition for a rate of 2.5 SSIs per 1,000 surgical encounters. There was no significant difference between SSI rates at ambulatory and hospital-based facilities. Using a broader definition of SSI that extended to infectious events associated with surgery up to 60 days post-operation, researchers identified 404 possible infections giving a rate of 48 SSIs per 1,000 surgical encounters. Using this broader definition, older age and black race were associated with a reduced risk of SSI.
Read more:
- Infections after pediatric ambulatory surgery: Incidence and risk factors. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. February 2019