Prevention of surgical wound infection: does the hospital take steps to monitor and control normothermia in major surgery (procedures lasting more than two hours)?

This measure is used to determine whether or not the hospital takes steps to monitor and control normothermia in major surgery (procedures lasting more than two hours). These practices must include monitoring of temperature and use of at least one of the following: warm saline solution, thermal blankets or forced warm air.

The essential foundation of infection control for patients undergoing surgery includes operating room (OR) practices for preparing and maintaining an aseptic surgical field within a controlled environment that minimizes contamination; proper sterilization of surgical instruments, attire and surgical scrub of the OR team; meticulous surgical technique; and careful post-operative wound care. The effectiveness of these practices has been demonstrated over time.

The existence of practices for monitoring and control of normothermia in surgical procedures lasting more than two hours reflects endeavors on the part of the surgical unit to prevent surgical site infections.

Major surgery; monitoring and control of normothermia

This measure applies to hospitals (one hospital at a time).

The hospital takes steps to monitor and control normothermia in major surgery (procedures lasting more than two hours). These practices must include monitoring of temperature and use of at least one of the following: warm saline solution, thermal blankets or forced warm air.

Hospitals practice some intervention to keep normothermia in surgical interventions lasting more than two hours, but temperature is not routinely controlled in 75% of them, and these practices are not routinely extended to the reanimation period in 30% of the centers.

After pilot testing, the set of indicators has been measured in a random sample of 25 Spanish hospitals, stratified by hospital size. The main objective has been to field test the feasibility of measurement in the various settings representing real life situations in the context of the Spanish Health Care System.

Both the whole indicators validation report and the results of the baseline measurement in a sample of the Spanish National Health Service (NHS) hospitals may be accessed and downloaded from the Spanish Ministry of Health web page (in Spanish):

• Validation report 
• Results of baseline measurement in Spanish NHS hospitals 

Does not apply to this measure

Unspecified

Inclusions
This measure applies to hospitals (one hospital at a time).

Exclusions
None

Inclusions
The hospital takes steps to monitor and control normothermia in major surgery (procedures lasting more than two hours). These practices must include monitoring of temperature and use of at least one of the following: warm saline solution, thermal blankets or forced warm air.

Exclusions
None

None

Existence of practices for monitoring and control of normothermia in major surgery (procedures lasting more than two hours).

Agency for Quality, Spanish Ministry of Health

Saturno, Pedro J., MD, DrPH; Group Director and Project PI

Castillo, Carmen; López, M. José; Ramón, Teresa; Nurses

Carrillo, Andrés, MD; Intensive Care Specialist

Iranzo, M. Dolores; Hospital pharmacist

Soria, Victor, MD; Surgeon

Parra, Pedro, MD; Gomis, Rafael, MD; Gascón, Juan J., MD; Quality Management Specialists

Project entirely financed by the Spanish Ministry of Health.

This measure was not adapted from another source.

Unspecified

Unspecified

This is the current release of the measure.

The measure developer reaffirmed the currency of this measure in April 2016.

Source not available electronically.

For more information, contact:

• Ministry of Health and Social Policy, at Paseo del Prado, 18-20, planta baja, esquina con Lope de Vega. 28014 Madrid; Phone: +34 901 400 100; Fax: +34 915 96 44 80; Web site: www.msc.es/en/home.htm .

  OR

• Pedro J. Saturno, Facultad de Medicina, at Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Espinardo-Murcia (Spain); Phone: 868 883 948; Fax: +34 868 883947; E-mail: psaturno@um.es.

The following are available:

• Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo. Construccion y validacion de indicadores de buenas practicas sobre seguridad del paciente. Madrid: Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo; 2008. 178 p. This document is available in Portable Document Format (PDF) from the Ministry of Health and Social Policy Web site  (in Spanish).
• Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo. Indicadores de buenas practicas sobre seguridad del paciente. Resultados de su medicion en una muestra de hospitales del sistema nacional de salud Español. Madrid: Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo; 2008. 95 p. This document is available in PDF from the Ministry of Health and Social Policy Web site  (in Spanish).

This NQMC summary was completed by ECRI Institute on September 11, 2009. The information was verified by the measure developer on December 23, 2009.

This NQMC summary was retrofitted into the new template on July 27, 2011.

The information was reaffirmed by the measure developer on April 4, 2016.

No copyright restrictions apply.