Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 12, Number 5—May 2006
Dispatch

Costs of Surgical Site Infections That Appear after Hospital Discharge

Nicholas Graves*†Comments to Author , Kate Halton*†, Merrilyn Curtis*, Shane Doidge*, David Lairson‡, Marylou McLaws§, and Michael Whitby*
Author affiliations: *The Centre for Healthcare Related Infection Surveillance and Prevention, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; †Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; ‡University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA; §University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Main Article

Table 1

Demographic characteristics of included patients by surgical site infection (SSI)

Characteristic % (no.)
No SSI (n = 411) SSI (n = 38)
Age, y, mean (SD) 63.58 (14.41) 64.37 (13.72)
Socioeconomic score (1–100),* mean (SD) 35.67 (19.17) 40.37 (20.53)
Male 48.66 (199) 57.89 (22)
Recruiting hospital
280-bed district hospital 35.04 (144) 47.37 (18)
712-bed teaching hospital 47.45 (195) 36.84 (14)
156-bed district hospital 16.79 (69) 15.79 (6)
Income
Currently in waged employment 20.68 (85) 31.58 (12)
<$50,000/y 12.41 (51) 23.68 (9)
>$50,000/y 2.68 (11) 5.26 (2)
Refused to answer 5.35 (22) 2.63 (1)
Education
Left school at <15 y 60.83 (250) 63.16 (24)
Left school at 16–18 y 7.54 (31) 13.16 (5)
Some form of higher education 30.41 (125) 23.68 (9)
Ethnicity
Caucasian 96.11 (395) 97.37 (37)
Aboriginal 0.24 (1) 0.00 (0)
Asian 0.24 (1) 0.00 (0)
Other 2.43 (10) 2.63 (1)
How patient was funded
Public 91.97 (378) 94.74 (36)
Intermediate 6.81 (28) 5.26 (2)
Private 0.24 (1) 0.00 (0)

*See Jones and McMillan (14) for the scoring algorithm used.

Main Article

References
  1. Holtz  TH, Wenzel  RP. Postdischarge surveillance for nosocomial wound infection. A brief review and commentary. Am J Infect Control. 1992;20:20613. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Kent  P, McDonald  M, Harris  O, Mason  T, Spelman  D. Post-discharge surgical wound infection surveillance in. A provincial hospital: follow-up rates, validity of data and review of the literature. ANZ J Surg. 2001;71:5839. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Plowman  RP, Graves  N, Griffin  M, Roberts  JA, Swan  AV, Cookson  BC, The socioeconomic burden of hospital acquired infection. London: Public Health Laboratory Service; 1999.
  4. Plowman  RP, Graves  N, Griffin  MAS, Roberts  JA, Swan  AV, Cookson  B, The rate and cost of hospital-acquired infections occurring in patients admitted to selected specialties of a district general hospital in England and the national burden imposed. J Hosp Infect. 2001;47:198209. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Perencevich  EN, Sands  KE, Cosgrove  SE, Guadagnoli  E, Meara  E, Platt  R. Health and economic impact of surgical site infections diagnosed after hospital discharge. Emerg Infect Dis. 2003;9:196203.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Graves  N, Halton  K, Lairson  D. Economics and preventing hospital-acquired infection—broadening the perspective. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. In press.
  7. Graves  N. Economics and preventing hospital-acquired infection. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004;10:5616.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  8. Aurich  E, Borgert  J, Butler  M, Cadwallader  H, Collignon  P, Eades  M, Introduction to Australian surveillance definitions: surgical site infections and bloodstream infections. Australian Infection Control. 2000;5:2531.
  9. The Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing. Manual of resource items and their associated costs for use in submissions to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee involving economic evaluation [cited 2005 Mar] (available from http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/ Content/health-pbs-general-pubs-manual-content.htm, ed). Canberra, Australia: Department of Health and Ageing; 2004.
  10. MIMS online [cited March 2005]. Available from http://www.mims.hcn.net.au/ifmx-nsapi/mims-data/?MIval=2MIMS_ssearch#
  11. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australian hospital statistics 2001–2002. Canberra, Australia: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; 2003.
  12. The Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing. Medicare benefits schedule book. Canberra, Australia: Department of Health and Ageing; 2004.
  13. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Average weekly earnings. Canberra, Australia: Australian Bureau of Statistics; 2004.
  14. Jones  FL, McMillan  J. Scoring occupational categories for social research: a review of current practice with Australian examples. Work Employ Soc. 2001;15:53963. DOIGoogle Scholar
  15. White  H. A heteroscedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimator and a direct test for heteroscedasticity. Econometrica. 1980;48:81738. DOIGoogle Scholar

Main Article

Page created: January 12, 2012
Page updated: January 12, 2012
Page reviewed: January 12, 2012
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external