A surgical site infection (SSI) is an infection that occurs after surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place. It occurs after a surgical procedure because of bacteria gaining entry to the body during the surgery.
SSI prevention includes many things, such as thorough cleaning and sterilization of surgical equipment, proper use of antibiotics, proper disinfection of the skin and proper management of the surgical wound after surgery and during recovery.
At UHN, we use a surgical checklist to ensure that antibiotics are administered at the appropriate time for all our surgeries, in all our operating rooms.
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