Impact of the implementation of an interdisciplinary infection control program to prevent surgical wound infection in pediatric heart surgery

Surgical site infection (SSI) remains a major source of morbidity, mortality, and increased health care costs in children undergoing heart surgery. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an intervention program designed to reduce the high incidence of SSI observed at our center in pediatric patients. An interdisciplinary infection control program including pre-, intra-, and postoperative measures was introduced for children undergoing heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. We conducted a quasi-experimental interventional study comparing a pre-intervention cohort (June 2009 to March 2010) and a post-intervention cohort (July 2011 to July 2012). A significant drop in SSI incidence from 10.9 % (95 % CI 4.7–18.8) to 1.92 % (95 % CI 0.4–5.52) was observed. Variables significantly associated with infection risk were median age (14 days in infected vs 2.3 years in non-infected patients; p < 0.01), hospitalization unit (10.3 % SSI cumulative incidence in the neonatal intensive care unit vs 0 cases in the pediatric intensive care unit; p < 0.01), and median preoperative hospital stay (14 days in infected vs 1 day in non-infected patients; p = 0.03).

Conclusions: The implementation of a new intervention program was associated with an 82 % (95 % CI 34–94) reduction in SSI incidence in children undergoing heart surgery at our center.