Economic burden of surgical site infections: Physician assessment method

 Surgical Site Infection (SSI) occurs within 30 days after surgery and involves the skin and subcutaneous tissue of the surgical incision. In addition to harming the patient, surgical site infection imposes a high cost on the health system. This research aimed to estimate the cost of surgical site infection in a hospital Iran.

 This descriptive study was conducted in a university hospital in Kashan in 2016. The cost of diagnosis, treatment and care of SSI was identified and calculated by an experienced medical doctor and two experienced nurses by studying the patient's medical record. Data were analyzed with SPSS software (version 16) and using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.

 The prevalence of SSI was 1.04% in the hospital. The median additional cost attributable to SSI per patient was 33,089,572 Rials (997 US$), which includes the cost of medication (7,838,412 Rials), tests (1,294,244 Rials), and imaging (1,462,692 Rials). ), re-surgery (7,938,158 Rials) and other services (14,556,066 Rials). The cost of SSI has a significant association with patient age, diabetes, type of surgery, duration of surgery, placement of device in the patient body, patient length of stay in the hospital before infection and patient hospitalization department (p<0.05).

 Surgical site infection imposes a high cost on the patient, the health insurance organization and the hospital. Health system policy makers and hospital managers should use appropriate interventions to prevent and control surgical site infections