Artroplastia do quadril: prevenção de infecção do sítio cirúrgico Hip arthroplasty: surgical site infection prevention Artroplastia de reemplazo de cadera: prevención de infección del sitio operatorio

Objective: To investigate preventive measures of the surgical site infection in patients undergoing hip arthroplasty. Method: Retrospective and descriptive study of procedures performed in a teaching hospital, from May 2010 to June 2012. Results: A total of 78 hip arthroplasties were conducted, with predominance of elderly and women. The main diagnosis was head femoral fracture. Half of the revision surgeries were performed due to infection. The mean preoperative hospital stay was 13.6 days and 94.9% of the patients were discharged. The preoperative bath was done by 86% of the participants; 23.1% had no hair removed; 80.8 and 83.3% had their skin prepared by scrubbing and antisepsis respectively; and antimicrobial prophylaxis was administered in 97% of them. Conclusion: Lack of registration of preventive measures in patients' records was the main limitation of this study. Preventive measures of the surgical site infection have been partially adopted, so it is necessary to train healthcare workers and investigate the causes of low compliance to preventive measures.