Risk assessment for surgical-site infections in orthopedic patients.

Objective: To assess the relative importance of risk factors for surgical-site infections (SSIs) in orthopedic patients and thereby determine which risk factors to monitor in the national surveillance of SSI in The Netherlands.

Design: Reanalysis of data on SSI and associated risk factors from two surveillance projects on nosocomial infections, carried out in 1992 and 1993 in The Netherlands: Project Surveillance Nosocomial Infections in the region of Utrecht (PSZU) and the first Project Surveillance Surgical Wound Infections (SWIFT-1). Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated for age, gender, preoperative stay, and the number of operations.

Sentinel system for nosocomial infections in The Netherlands: a pilot study.

Objective: To determine the feasibility of standardized surveillance of nosocomial infections (NI) in The Netherlands, using local data on patients with NI collected by infection control practitioners (ICPs) and denominator data on all patients under surveillance obtained from the Dutch National Medical Registry (LMR).

Design: A prospective, multicenter study.

Setting: Eight hospitals in the Utrecht region, and the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment.

Modeling prevention strategies for gonorrhea and Chlamydia using stochastic network simulations.

A simulation model was used to study the spread of two sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), namely gonorrhea and genital infection with Chlamydia trachomatis. The model is based on a stochastic pair formation and separation process, which describes the underlying structure of the sexual contact pattern. It is implemented as a Monte Carlo simulation model.