Question

You work in the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of a large urban hospital. Over the past 2 days, a number of patients in the unit have developed serious Staphylococcus aureus infections. Why do postoperative patients have an increased risk of infection?

Answer 1

The rate of postoperative wound infection is varying from percent to percent ,depending on the surgical procedure . Each potoperative wound infection increases the length of stay in hospital , the cost of the procedure and is also associated with the significant morbidity . The Satphylococcus aureus is the causative agent in 15 to 20 % of these infections . Although the pathogen isolated is varies according to the surgical sites. The risk factors for acquiring an infection that can be divided into the following categories ;- as host factors , surgical and environmental factors , and microbial characteristics .The host factors which may contribute to an increased risk of infection include teh - agge , prolonged the pre-operative length of stay and also concurrent infection at the another site .Increased infection risk may result from an extended surgical procedures , the wound classification , the use of the razor for the hair removal in patient before surgery and may also be dependent on the surgeon's technical skill, Due to lack maintaing thesterile procedures leads to the Iatragenic infection . Microbial factors related to the risk of developing an infection postoperatively are less well defined , However many outbreaks of surgical wound infection have been linked to personnel carrying an organism which is then transmitted to the patient . .Furthermore the patient who are carry intranasal S.aureus have a 2-10 fold increased likelihood of developing a postoperative wound infection due to S. aureus . So , identification and and reduceing   plus  managing the patient those are most at the risk of developing an infection is the ultimate goal .