ABSTRACT

Objective: To identify the prevalence and root causes of infection in surgical sites in tertiary cares hospitals in Peshawar and Multan, Pakistan. Study Design: Retrospective study Place and Duration: Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar and Bakhtawar Amin Medical & dental college Multan. The survey period for these special education institutions is nine months from 1st April 2020 to 31st December 2020. Methodology: The study included 1471 patients with elective surgery and 233 patients with emergency surgery. Optional surgical procedures include hysterectomy, plastic hernia, gastrectomy, mastectomy, intestinal anastomosis, hemorrhoidal resection, fistulectomy, parotid gland resection, and thyroidectomy. Common operations in emergencies were exploratory laparotomy and resection anastomosis of bowel. Results: The current study covered 1471 selective and 233 emergency surgeries from 1st April 2020 to 31st December 2020, with a SSI rate of 12.5% in elective surgeries (208) and 17.7%(40) in emergency surgeries in Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar and Bakhtawar Amin Medical & dental college Multan, General Surgery units. Of the three types, superficial incision SSI was the most common (115 cases) following deep incision SSI (68 cases), and finally organ / cavity SSI (59 cases).

Conclusion: This study provides evidence about risk factors for developing SSI in a large general surgery population in Pakistan. In actual, patient age, contaminated wounds, long surgery times, lack of prophylactic antibiotics, drainage use, and long-term hospitalization have been observed to be associated with an increased incidence of SSI. Keywords: General surgery, Nosocomial infection, SSI, Surgical site infection, Surgery