News Releases

Hospital Lowers Potentially Deadly Surgical Site Infection Rates

Surgeons Take Three Key Steps to Reduce Infection

The Woodlands, Texas, March 15, 2004 – After implementing new processes to address a national concern regarding rates for surgery-related infection, Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital is reporting a remarkable reduction in such cases.

Surgical Site Infections are blamed for 20 percent of hospital-related infections. Patients who acquire an SSI are more likely to spend time in the ICU and are twice as likely to die. Costs rise with SSI as well, due to longer hospital stays – on average, seven days longer -- adding over $3150 to a hospital bill.

To achieve its exceptional results, Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital proactively refined its processes around three primary factors:

• Choosing the correct antibiotic for the procedure
• Administering the antibiotic before the first surgical cut is ever made and at the proper time--usually one hour before the incision
• Discontinuing antibiotic use 24 hours after surgery

Of the three, timing for administering the antibiotic is the most critical. “Traditionally, doctors continued to give antibiotics as long as 48 hours after the procedure was complete,” says Ed Septimus, M.D., medical director, Infectious Diseases, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, “but that leaves a patient at increased risk for antibiotic-resistant infection and side effects without providing any additional benefit.”

The process changes at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital are the result of a Surgical Infection Prevention collaborative between the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System and the Texas Medical Foundation. Dr. Septimus, a key contributor to the Collaborative, says “The results we're getting at our hospital in The Woodlands support the critical importance of implementing these processes system-wide as we are doing.”

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