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About this Measure
This measures looks at one specific kind of infection that may result after heart surgery.
The infection is known as a "sternal wound infection" and means an infection that occurs at the surgery incision site on the patient's chest. A sternal wound infection can be a very serious complication after heart surgery.
A lower number is better for this measure.
What is a Benchmark?
Southcoast compares all of its internal quality measures against benchmarks to help gauge our performance. Benchmarks are usually an external suitable comparison group, such as a national average, or an expected target set by an external agency. When none are available, Southcoast sets its own internal performance goals.
This benchmark: This benchmark comes from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons national database that reports a number of surgery-related measures from many hospitals across the country.
What Does This Mean?
Sternal wound infections after heart surgery are very serious and can be extremely dangerous to patients. The goal for this measure is always zero, meaning no sternal wound infections. A lower number means that patients only rarely develop a sternal wound infection after heart surgery.
At Southcoast, we have not had any cases of sternal wound infections in the reported time period.
What Southcoast is Doing to Improve this Measure
Southcoast takes many safety steps to greatly reduce the risk of a sternal wound infection after heart surgery. We follow national best-practice recommendations from expert organizations that are aimed to reduce the risk of an infection after a knee replacement. This bundle of measures is known as SCIP, which stands for Surgical Care Infection Prevention.
This bundle prescribes the following steps:
- Order an appropriate antibiotic prior to surgery.
- Give antibiotic within one hour of starting surgery.
- Stop antibiotic within 24 hours of ending surgery.
- If hair removal is necessary at incision site, use clippers instead of a razor to reduce risk of cutting skin that may let germs enter cut.
- Keep patient's blood sugar level within normal limits after surgery. A high blood sugar level increases risk of developing an infection.
If an infection were to develop, a team of experts would review case to determine what we could learn and do better in future.
A Note About Our Data
All data on this site are aggregate data for all Southcoast Hospitals sites.
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