Eliminating sternal wound infections: Why every cardiac surgery program needs an I hate infections team.

Objectives: The majority of studies examining deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) prevention focus on ameliorating 1 variable at a time. There is a paucity of data regarding the synergistic effects of combining clinical and environmental interventions. This article describes an interdisciplinary, multimodal approach to eliminate DSWIs at a large community hospital.

Silver-Impregnated Dressing Does Not Decrease Incidence of Surgical Site Infection After Adult Cardiac Surgery.

Objective: Sternal wound infections complicate 1% to 8% of cardiac surgeries and carry significant morbidity. We investigated the utility of silver-impregnated dressing in decreasing sternal wound infections after sternotomy cases.

Methods: A single-institution cohort study was performed as part of a quality improvement trial of a new sternal dressing.