Infection, Prevention and Control - Surgical Wound Infections

All surgical procedures carry a risk of infection. The information and advice in this leaflet tells you how we can reduce these risks and what you can do to help.

Surgical wound infections

There are many tiny organisms (called micro-organisms) living on your skin, in your body and in the environment around you. Most micro-organisms do not cause you any harm.

When you have an operation, micro-organisms can enter your body through the cut made by the surgeon, they can multiply and cause an infection. This is called a surgical wound infection.

Many surgical wound infections are not very serious, affecting only the skin. However, some can be more serious if they affect the deeper tissues under the skin.

The risk of developing a surgical site infection can often be reduced if care is taken before, during and after surgery.

Before your operation

Have a shower or bath using soap, either the day before or on the day of your operation.

The nursing team should advise you to have a shower or bath using soap, either the day before or on the day of your operation. This will reduce the number of micro-organisms on your skin and decrease the risk of developing a surgical wound infection. If you are not able to wash yourself and do not have anyone who can help you, then please discuss this with a member of your surgical team at the earliest opportunity.

DO NOT shave or remove hair from the surgical area yourself.

For most operations, you will not need to have the hair around the site of the operation removed. If hair needs to be removed, this will be done by healthcare staff using electric clippers with a single-use head on the day of surgery. Please do not shave or remove hair from the surgical area yourself, the use of razors for hair removal may increase the risk of infection.

Keep warm

Staying warm before surgery will lower the risk of complications after surgery. The nursing team will give you a gown to wear for your operation that will allow the surgeon easy access to the area of your body where the operation is required. You might find that the hospital environment is colder than your own home, so bring additional clothing such as a dressing gown, a vest, warm clothing and slippers. If you feel cold at any time during your stay in hospital then please inform a member of staff.

During your operation

The team carrying out your operation will take care to reduce the risk of your wound becoming infected.

This includes:

•    Thoroughly washing their hands
•    Wearing gowns and gloves
•    Cleaning your skin with antiseptic liquid

At the end of your operation, your surgical wound will be covered with a special dressing that helps it to heal and protects it from infection.

After your operation

Depending on the type of surgery you have had, to reduce the risk of infection your surgical wound dressing may not be removed before you go home.

If your wound needs to be checked, or your dressing needs changing before you go home, the nursing team will take special care to reduce the risk of infection. In particular they will wash their hands, wear gloves and aprons and avoid touching the wound or the surface of the clean dressing that will be in contact with the wound.

Please do not attempt to remove your dressing yourself.

How will you know if you have a surgical wound infection?

During your stay in hospital the nurse who changes your dressings will check for any signs of infection. If you are concerned about your wound, tell the nurse who is looking after you.

Possible signs of infection may include:

•    Increased redness, heat, swelling or pain to wound site
•    Thick green or yellow discharge (pus)
•    Generally feeling unwell or feverish

At home

Before you go home, if you are expected to need any further wound care, the nursing staff may arrange for you to be seen by either the district nurse or back at hospital. In some instances, you need to make arrangements with your local district nurses yourself, however in this instance the nursing staff will provide you with any information you need.

After you leave hospital, if you develop one or more of the symptoms listed above or have any other concerns about your wound, unless you have been given the contact details of someone at the hospital to ring, you should tell your family doctor or district nurse who will decide if you require treatment.

Don’t be tempted to remove your own dressing or touch your wound or wound drain. You could accidentally transfer germs from your fingers to your wound.

More information is available from the:

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng125/informationforpublic

Monitoring for Surgical Wound Infections

The Northern Care Alliance operates a surgical wound infection surveillance programme, which monitors patients for wound infections following specific surgical procedures.

After your surgery, you may receive either a postal questionnaire (with a pre-paid return envelope), or a text message containing a link to an online questionnaire to complete. This is a short survey to identify those who have had wound healing problems after being discharged from hospital.

If you receive a questionnaire from us, we would ask that you please complete it and return or submit it to us whenever possible. Your feedback is important to us, and we use this information to both monitor our infection rates and to review and improve the quality of the care we provide across the Northern Care Alliance.

To enable us to do this accurately, please ensure that the address and mobile telephone numbers we have on file for you are up to date.