Is wound infection a hospital defect?
I had surgery in a hospital. Postoperative infection occurred in the wound area. Is this the defect of the surgeon or hospital doing my surgery?
Postoperative infections at the wound site are among the most common hospital infections. The frequency of infection development and infection-causing microorganisms and their antibiotic resistance vary from hospital to hospital. Wound infection can lead to longer hospital stay, increased treatment costs, impaired patient quality of life, sometimes permanent disability, and rarely death.
Units should be installed
Postoperative infection is a condition that the surgeon does not want. This development overshadows the success of the surgeon. It puts him in a difficult position in front of the patient and his relatives. Both the surgeon and the hospital management should take the necessary precautions in order to avoid such an unpleasant situation. The risk of developing nosocomial infections is higher, especially in those with more beds and in education hospitals. Each hospital should have an infection control program and a responsible unit dealing with this issue.
Continuous control is a must!
Infections that develop in the hospital should be monitored continuously, the microorganisms causing them, the units where they are seen, the medical devices and materials infected with the active microorganisms and the susceptibility of the active microorganisms to the antibiotics should be determined in each case and a dynamic struggle should be carried out. In the light of this local information, patients with nosocomial infections should be diagnosed early and treated effectively. Measures should also be taken to reduce the frequency of nosocomial infections. Cleaning and medical hygiene measures should be taken in the hospital environment, especially at risky units, sterilization of medical equipment and devices should be done and controlled properly, diagnostic or therapeutic interventions should be carried out in accordance with sterilization rules, and hospital workers should work in a way not to be the carriers of microorganisms causing infection. Before the operation, the patient should be investigated for a disease that suppresses the immune system and thus facilitates the development of infection. Preventive antibiotic treatment should be started for the patients at high risk of infection, postoperative patient care and wound dressings should be performed appropriately and symptoms of infection should be noticed and treated without delay.
There is always a risk!
All these measures reduce the incidence of infection in a hospital, but never completely reset it. That is, even if a surgeon does everything correctly and completely and the hospital management takes all the precautions known in medicine, wound infection may develop in a hospitalized and operated patient. Being in a hospital environment is a risk of infection in itself. This is a situation where the person who accepts the risk of accidents to a certain extent. In law, this is called 'allowed risk' and in medicine it is called 'complication'. In a patient with wound infection, the issue to be explained is whether there is a negligence, carelessness or imprudence of the physician or hospital management. It is the expert who is still a physician who will decide.
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