Self-Diagnosis of Surgical Site Infections: Lessons from a Tertiary Care Centre in Karachi, Pakistan

Background and Objective: Surgical site infections (SSIs) usually manifest post-discharge, rendering accurate diagnosis and treatment challenging, thereby catalyzing the development of alternate strategies like self-monitored SSI surveillance. This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of patients and Infection Control Monitors (ICMs) to develop a replicable method of SSI-detection. Methods: A two-year prospective diagnostic accuracy study was conducted in Karachi, Pakistan between 2015 and 2017. Patients were educated about SSIs and provided with questionnaires to elicit symptoms of SSI during post-discharge self-screening. Results of patient’s self-screening and ICM evaluation at follow-ups were compared to surgeon evaluation. Results: A total of 348 patients completed the study, among whom 18 (5.5%) developed a SSI. Patient self-screening had a sensitivity of 39%, specificity of 95%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 28%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 97%. ICM evaluation had a sensitivity of 82%, specificity of 99%, PPV of 82%, and NPV of 99%. Conclusion: Patients cannot self-diagnose a SSI reliably. However, diagnostic accuracy of ICMs is significantly higher and they may serve as a proxy for surgeons, thereby reducing the burden on specialized surgical workforce in LMICs. Regardless, supplementing post-discharge follow-up with patient self-screening could increase SSI-detection and reduce burden on health systems. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.ICON-Suppl.1716 How to cite this:Sajun SZ, Albutt K, Moosajee US, Drevin G, Mukhopadhyay S, Samad L. Self-Diagnosis of Surgical Site Infections: Lessons from a tertiary care centre in Karachi, Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci. Special Supplement ICON 2020. 2020;36(1):S55-S60.  doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.ICON-Suppl.1716 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.