TY - JOUR
T1 - Discharge from hospital and its effect on surgical wound infections The Israeli Study of Surgical Infections
AU - Simchen, Eliheva
AU - Wax, Yohanan
AU - Galai, Noya
AU - Israeli, Avi
PY - 1992/10
Y1 - 1992/10
N2 - A multicenter study of 2846 consecutive hernia operations was conducted to identify risk factors for infections that occurred during the hospitalization and post-discharge from hospital. Operated patients were followed-up for 30 days after surgery, whether at home or still hospitalized, and half the wound infection episodes were found to occur at home. Risk factors for both in-hospital and post-discharge infections seemed to be influenced by; (a) the selective nature of discharge, (b) the differential effect some risk factors had on either early or late infections. On any given day, patients selected by the clinical team to remain in hospital were more "at risk" for infection than those who left. As a result, they had a better chance of being diagnosed as infected during hospitalization. By contrast, those who were discharged home were perceived as low risk for complications. Subsequent infections in these patients occurred either due to factors "causing" late infections, therefore, unappreciated at the time of discharge, or unknown risk factors. More study risk factors were associated with in-hospital than with post-discharge infections, especially those associated with "early" infections. The implications of these findings for fuure evaluations of medical care in hospitalized patients are discussed.
AB - A multicenter study of 2846 consecutive hernia operations was conducted to identify risk factors for infections that occurred during the hospitalization and post-discharge from hospital. Operated patients were followed-up for 30 days after surgery, whether at home or still hospitalized, and half the wound infection episodes were found to occur at home. Risk factors for both in-hospital and post-discharge infections seemed to be influenced by; (a) the selective nature of discharge, (b) the differential effect some risk factors had on either early or late infections. On any given day, patients selected by the clinical team to remain in hospital were more "at risk" for infection than those who left. As a result, they had a better chance of being diagnosed as infected during hospitalization. By contrast, those who were discharged home were perceived as low risk for complications. Subsequent infections in these patients occurred either due to factors "causing" late infections, therefore, unappreciated at the time of discharge, or unknown risk factors. More study risk factors were associated with in-hospital than with post-discharge infections, especially those associated with "early" infections. The implications of these findings for fuure evaluations of medical care in hospitalized patients are discussed.
KW - Hospitalized patients
KW - Surgical infections
KW - Wound infections
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U2 - 10.1016/0895-4356(92)90156-H
DO - 10.1016/0895-4356(92)90156-H
M3 - Article
C2 - 1474412
AN - SCOPUS:0026808901
SN - 0895-4356
VL - 45
SP - 1155
EP - 1163
JO - Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
JF - Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
IS - 10
ER -