Wound Complications in Elective Orthopaedics: Are Current British National Data Relevant?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The UK Nosocomial Infection National Surveillance Service (NINSS) collects data on surgical wound infection in a variety of procedures, including arthroplasty, to allow comparison between institutions. PATIENTS AND METHODS We have compared the results of a 6-month data collection by NINSS within our department with our own grading system of wound complications in elective arthroplasty surgery. RESULTS In this period, NINSS has reported one wound infection in our patients. However, we have recorded five patients who were returned to theatre for wound debridement, and yielded positive cultures from multiple specimens. Seven patients received antibiotic therapy alone for wound problems. CONCLUSIONS We present our wound grading system as suitable for the collection of data on wound complications in elective orthopaedic surgery.