What Can I Do to Prevent SSIs?

A good SSI prevention bundle involves multiple interventions that are done in the preoperative period before the patient ever arrives to the hospital, intraoperatively, and even postoperatively. This includes having the patient wash their skin with either a CHG or an antimicrobial soap in the days leading up to surgery. It also means using appropriate preoperative antibiotics beginning before the cut and continuing up to 24 hours after surgery. And then again with colon surgeries, there are a few other little bit more nuanced things that can be done.