Quality and cost impacts: prevention of post‐operative clean wound infections
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
ISSN: 0952-6862
Article publication date: 1 December 1998
Abstract
This paper report the effectiveness of a nursing quality assurance program over three years, which demonstrates improvement in the incidence and severity of post‐operative clean wound infections and the associated extended length of hospital stay and cost. General surgery categories included cardiovascular, orthopaedic, neurosurgery, kidney, abdominal, mammary and other. Cardiovascular categories included coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), heart transplant, and atrial valve replacement. Hip replacement and total knee replacement procedures were included in the orthopaedic category. Additional length of stay and concomitant hospital costs were calculated. Results show that early reporting of observations and implementation of appropriate treatment will decrease the incidence, severity and associated costs of post‐operative clean wound infections.
Keywords
Citation
Lapsley, H.M. and Vogels, R. (1998), "Quality and cost impacts: prevention of post‐operative clean wound infections", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 11 No. 7, pp. 222-231. https://doi.org/10.1108/09526869810243935
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited