Are cross-sectional safety climate survey results in operating room staff associated with the surgical site infection rates in Swiss hospitals?

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between surgical site infections (SSIs), a major source of patient harm, and safety and teamwork climate. Prior research has been unclear regarding this relationship.

Design: Based on the Swiss national SSI surveillance and a survey study assessing (a) safety climate and (b) teamwork climate, associations were analysed for three kinds of surgical procedures.

Preventing Surgical Site Infections: Are Safety Climate Level and Its Strength Associated With Self-reported Commitment To, Subjective Norms Toward, and Knowledge About Preventive Measures?

Objectives: Surgical site infections (SSIs) represent a major source of preventable patient harm. Safety climate in the operating room personnel is assumed to be an important factor, with scattered supporting evidence for the association between safety climate and infection outcome so far. This study investigated perceptions and knowledge specific to infection prevention measures and their associations with general assessments of safety climate level and strength.

Better Operating Room Ventilation as Determined by a Novel Ventilation Index is Associated With Lower Rates of Surgical Site Infections.

Objective: The aim was to assess the impact of operating room (OR) ventilation quality on surgical site infections (SSIs) using a novel ventilation index.

Background: Previous studies compared laminar air flow with conventional ventilation, thereby ignoring many parameters that influence air flow properties.

Methods: In this cohort study, we surveyed hospitals participating in the Swiss SSI surveillance and calculated a ventilation index for their ORs, with higher values reflecting less turbulent air displacement.

Evaluation of existing and desired measures to monitor, prevent and control healthcare-associated infections in Swiss hospitals.

Objectives: Optimal surveillance and prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are crucial for a well-functioning health care system. With a view to establishing a national state-of-the-art programme for surveillance and prevention of HAIs, the Swiss National Center for Infection Control, Swissnoso, developed a survey to explore the options for expanding the existing Swiss HAI surveillance system.

Methods: An online survey was sent to all Swiss acute care hospitals.

Direct estimation of death attributable to smoking in Switzerland based on record linkage of routine and observational data.

Introduction: In Switzerland, estimations of smoking-attributable deaths were based on age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) from foreign cohorts, precluding consideration of country-specific properties and adjustment for confounding. In order to overcome this, we analyzed recently available individual data from Switzerland.

Methods: We included 17,861 individuals aged ≥16 years who participated between 1977-1993 in health studies and were anonymously linked with the Swiss National Cohort.