eMedicine Specialties > General Surgery > Wounds

Wound Infection: Follow-up

Author: Hemant Singhal, MD, MBBS, FRCSE, FRCS(C), Senior Lecturer, Department of Surgery, Imperial College School of Medicine, UK; Consultant Surgeon, Northwick Park and St Marks Hospitals, UK
Coauthor(s): Kanchan Kaur, MBBS, MS, MRCS (Ed), Clinical Fellow, Department of Surgery, Northwick Park Hospital, UK; Charles Zammit, MD, Senior Specialist Registrar, Department of Surgery, Breast Unit Charing Cross Hospital of London, England
Contributor Information and Disclosures

Updated: Sep 8, 2009

Follow-up

Further Inpatient Care

  • Resultant increased hospital stay due to SSI has been estimated at 7-10 days, increasing hospitalization costs by 20%.21,27,28
  • Occasionally, further intervention in the form of wound debridement and subsequent packing and frequent dressing is necessary to allow healing by secondary intention.

Further Outpatient Care

  • Most patients with wound infections are managed in the community. Management usually takes the form of dressing changes to optimize healing, which usually is by secondary intention.

Miscellaneous

Medicolegal Pitfalls

  • Always inquire about whether the patient has any medication allergies before prescribing antibiotics.
  • Failure to prescribe prophylactic antibiotics for a procedure as recommended above may result in the surgeon being held accountable if the patient has increased morbidity or mortality from the surgical procedure.
  • A medicolegal issue may arise for failure to recognize an infected prosthesis and institute prompt action.
 


More on Wound Infection

Overview: Wound Infection
Differential Diagnoses & Workup: Wound Infection
Treatment & Medication: Wound Infection
Follow-up: Wound Infection
Multimedia: Wound Infection
References
Further Reading
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References

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Further Reading

Related eMedicine topics:
Candidiasis
Clostridium Difficile Colitis
Enterococcal Infection
Enterococcal Infections
Hospital-Acquired Infections
Legionella Infection
MRSA Skin Infection in Athletes
Nosocomial Pneumonia
Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infections
Pseudomonas Infection
Staphylococcus Aureus Infection
The Role of Antibiotics in Cutaneous Surgery
Wound Care

Clinical guidelines:
Best practice policy statement on urological surgery antimicrobial prophylaxis. American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. - Medical Specialty Society.  2007 Jan.  46 pages.  NGC:006297

Prevention of surgical site infections. In: Prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections in Massachusetts. Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction - State/Local Government Agency [U.S.]
Massachusetts Department of Public Health - State/Local Government Agency [U.S.].  2008 Jan 31.  8 pages.  NGC:006635

Strategies to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections in acute care hospitals. Infectious Diseases Society of America - Medical Specialty Society
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America - Professional Association.  2008 Oct.  10 pages.  NGC:006805

Strategies to prevent surgical site infections in acute care hospitals. Infectious Diseases Society of America - Medical Specialty Society
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America - Professional Association.  2008 Oct.  11 pages.  NGC:006810

Surgical site infection: prevention and treatment of surgical site infection. National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children's Health - National Government Agency [Non-U.S.].  2008 Oct.  142 pages.  NGC:006827

Clinical trials:
Prevention of Surgical Site Infections

Supplemental Oxygen and the Risk of Surgical Site Infection (PORSSI)

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Keywords

wound infection, MRSA infection, nosocomial infection, hospital infection, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, surgical infection, surgical infections, MRSA vancomycin, surgical site infection, surgical wound infection, surgical wound healing

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Contributor Information and Disclosures

Author

Hemant Singhal, MD, MBBS, FRCSE, FRCS(C), Senior Lecturer, Department of Surgery, Imperial College School of Medicine, UK; Consultant Surgeon, Northwick Park and St Marks Hospitals, UK
Hemant Singhal, MD, MBBS, FRCSE, FRCS(C) is a member of the following medical societies: Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Kanchan Kaur, MBBS, MS, MRCS (Ed), Clinical Fellow, Department of Surgery, Northwick Park Hospital, UK
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Charles Zammit, MD, Senior Specialist Registrar, Department of Surgery, Breast Unit Charing Cross Hospital of London, England
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Medical Editor

Brian James Daley, MD, MBA, FACS, Associate Program Director, Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care, University of Tennessee School of Medicine
Brian James Daley, MD, MBA, FACS is a member of the following medical societies: American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association, Association for Academic Surgery, Association for Surgical Education, Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, Shock Society, Society of Critical Care Medicine, Southeastern Surgical Congress, and Tennessee Medical Association
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Pharmacy Editor

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD, Senior Pharmacy Editor, eMedicine
Disclosure: eMedicine Salary Employment

Managing Editor

Amy L Friedman, MD, Professor of Surgery, Director of Transplantation, State University of New York Upstate Medical University College of Medicine, Syracuse
Amy L Friedman, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association, American Medical Women's Association, American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, American Society of Transplantation, Association for Academic Surgery, Association of Women Surgeons, International College of Surgeons, International Liver Transplantation Society, New York Academy of Sciences, Pennsylvania Medical Society, Philadelphia County Medical Society, Society of Critical Care Medicine, and Transplantation Society
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

CME Editor

Michael E Zevitz, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Finch University of the Health Sciences, The Chicago Medical School; Consulting Staff, Private Practice
Michael E Zevitz, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, and Michigan State Medical Society
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

John Geibel, MD, DSc, MA, Vice Chairman, Professor, Department of Surgery, Section of Gastrointestinal Medicine and Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine; Director of Surgical Research, Department of Surgery, Yale-New Haven Hospital
John Geibel, MD, DSc, MA is a member of the following medical societies: American Gastroenterological Association, American Physiological Society, American Society of Nephrology, Association for Academic Surgery, International Society of Nephrology, New York Academy of Sciences, and Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract
Disclosure: AMGEN Royalty Other

 
 
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