Magnet:

Why should surgical infection prevention be important to you?

Because it improves your safety as a patient. It reduces time spent in the hospital, time spent in the ICU and mortality rates resulting from surgery. It means you can rest assured that every effort is being made to reduce the opportunity for infection and promote healing.

Note: 2004 data is not yet available. CDC definitions include a 12-month surveillance window for implantable devices (hips, knees, etc.)

Why Mercy?:

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Surgical Infection Prevention

Part of a national effort to reduce surgical site infection rates

Mercy and 55 other hospitals across the nation participated in a project, sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to find the best ways to minimize the chance of surgical infection. By redesigning systems, we have reduced post-surgery infections by 78 percent in one year. 

Mercy's surgical site infections rates were low when we began,

but the team of nurses and physicians involved in the project were committed to reducing infections to the lowest achievable rate.  We have had nearly 500 surgical cases in the pilot population without an infection.

The "Ounce of Prevention" team

led by Mercy nurses and and physicians piloted a study showing the positive effects of on-time administration of prophylactic antibiotics before surgery; use of clippers rather than shaving the surgical site; and temperature control in the operating room.  Adherence to these standards has given Mercy an edge on surgical site infections. 

Our success has received significant recognition by peer hospitals across the nation.

In December 2004 at the national conference of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Washington, D.C., Dr. RIchard Berwick, the president of IHI referred to Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City as "the hospital leading the nation in surgical infection prevention."

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