Drop a Bundle and Save: Reducing Surgical Site Infections Across Surgical Populations

Each year approximately 26.6 million inpatient surgical procedures are performed in the United States, and data analysis from the National Center for Health Statistics and the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) indicates 250,000 to 1 million surgical site infections (SSIs) develop each year. Patients who develop an SSI have a >60% greater risk of being admitted to an intensive care unit, and are 15 times more likely to experience readmission within 30 days of discharge. SSIs are known to increase patient morbidity, mortality, accounts for an excess of 3.7 million hospital days, and have an estimated $1.6 billion economic impact on the US healthcare system.