Journal article
Postoperative infection rates in foot and ankle surgery: a clinical audit of Australian podiatric surgeons, January to December 2007
Australian Health Review, Vol.34(2), pp.180-185
2010
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Abstract
Background. Surgical site infections are one of the most common post-operative complications encountered by foot and ankle surgeons. The incidence reported in the literature varies between 0.5 and 6.5%. The results of a 12-month Australia-wide clinical audit analysing the rates of postoperative infections in association with podiatric surgery are presented.
Methods: De-identified patient data was collected from nine podiatric surgeons Australia-wide. Infections were identified according to Australian Council on Health Care Standards (ACHS) definitions and data was entered no earlier than thirty days post procedure.
Results: A total of 1339 patient admissions and 2387 surgical procedures were reported using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) and Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) coding systems. The overall infection rate was 3.1% and the rate of infection resulting in hospital re-admission was 0.25%.
Conclusions: The benchmark results presented in this paper suggest that infection rates associated with podiatric surgery are well within accepted industry standards as stated in recent literature.
Details
- Title
- Postoperative infection rates in foot and ankle surgery: a clinical audit of Australian podiatric surgeons, January to December 2007
- Creators
- Paul A Butterworth - La Trobe UniversityMark F Gilheany - East Melbourne PodiatryPaul Tinley - Charles Sturt University
- Publication Details
- Australian Health Review, Vol.34(2), pp.180-185
- Identifiers
- 2833; 991012820610702368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Health; School of Health and Human Sciences; Allied Health and Midwifery
- Resource Type
- Journal article