Surgical Site infections (SSIs) occur in 2% to 5% of surgery patients. This category of infection comprises approximately 22% of all healthcare-associated infections and has a 3% mortality. Patients with SSIs require significant care and average 7 to 10 days of increased length of hospital stay. The cost of providing care for a single SSI ranges from $3,000 to $29,000. The total cost of care for SSIs is estimated at $10 billion dollars per year. There are of course additional expenditures for outpatient care, readmissions, and care of long-term disabilities.
Blog & Articles
Surgical Safety Issues or James Bond Movie?
July 18, 2016
[4 MIN READ]
Most predicaments in which James Bond finds himself require clever improvisation to achieve a good outcome. Bond knows that every mission entails huge risks that are largely unpredictable. In contrast, the risks of surgery are recognized in advance, and the procedures go according to plan in the vast majority of cases. Despite proactive safety measures, claims against surgeons continue to occur regularly for bad outcomes. It has been estimated that approximately 80 surgical never events occurred each week between 1990 and 2010.