Surgical Infection Reduction Program of the Observatory of Surgical Infection (PRIQ-O): Delphi prioritization and consensus document on recommendations for the prevention of surgical site infection.

Surgical site infection is the most frequent and avoidable complication of surgery, but clinical guidelines for its prevention are insufficiently followed. We present the results of a Delphi consensus carried out by a panel of experts from 17 Scientific Societies with a critical review of the scientific evidence and international guidelines, to select the measures with the highest degree of evidence and facilitate their implementation. Forty measures were reviewed and 53 recommendations were issued. Ten main measures were prioritized for inclusion in prevention bundles: preoperative shower; correct surgical hand hygiene; no hair removal from the surgical field or removal with electric razors; adequate systemic antibiotic prophylaxis; use of minimally invasive approaches; skin decontamination with alcoholic solutions; maintenance of normothermia; plastic wound protectors-retractors; intraoperative glove change; and change of surgical and auxiliary material before wound closure.

Antibiotic prophylaxis for hernia repair.

BACKGROUND: The use of antibiotic prophylaxis for hernia repair is currently a controversial issue given the disparity among study results in this area. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this systematic review was to clarify the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis in reducing postoperative wound infection rates in elective open inguinal hernia repair. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Colorectal Cancer Group specialized register, by crossing the terms herni* and inguinal or groin and the terms antimicr* or antibiot* , as free text and MeSH terms. A similar search were performed in Medline using the following terms: #1 antibiotic* OR antimicrob* OR anti infecti* OR antiinfecti*; #2 prophyla* OR prevent*; #3 #1 AND #2; #4 clean AND (surgery OR tech* OR proced*); #5 herni*; #6 (wound infection) AND #4; #7 #3 AND (#4 or #5 or #6). National Research Register, ISI-Web, DARE, Scirus, TRIPDATABASE, NHS EED, reference list of the included studies and web of clinical trials register (www.controlled-trials.com and clinicaltrials.gov) were checked to identify further studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: Only randomised clinical trials were included. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: In the present review, we searched for eligible trials in October 2011. This revealed four new included trials, so seventeen trials are included in the meta-analysis. Eleven of them used prosthetic material for hernia repair (hernioplasty) whereas the remaining studies did not (herniorrhaphy). Pooled and subgroup analysis were conducted depending on whether prosthetic material was or not used. A fixed effects model was used in the analysis. MAIN RESULTS: The total number of patients included was 7843 (prophylaxis group: 4703, control group: 3140). Overall infection rates were 3.1% and 4.5% in the prophylaxis and control groups, respectively (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.50 - 0.82). The subgroup of patients with herniorrhaphy had infection rates of 3.5% and 4.9% in the prophylaxis and control groups, respectively (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.51 - 1.00). The subgroup of patients with hernioplasty had infection rates of 2.4% and 4.2% in the prophylaxis and control groups, respectively (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.38 - 0.81). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of this systematic review the administration of antibiotic prophylaxis for elective inguinal hernia repair cannot be universally recommended. Neither can the administration be recommended against when high rates of wound infection are observed.

Utility of a thematic network in primary health care: a controlled interventional study in a rural area.

BACKGROUND: UniNet is an Internet-based thematic network for a virtual community of users (VCU). It supports a virtual multidisciplinary community for physicians, focused on the improvement of clinical practice. This is a study of the effects of a thematic network such as UniNet on primary care medicine in a rural area, specifically as a platform of communication between specialists at the hospital and doctors in the rural area. METHODS: In order to study the effects of a thematic network such as UniNet on primary care medicine in a rural area, we designed an interventional study that included a control group. The measurements included the number of patient displacements due to disease, number of patient hospital stays and the number of prescriptions of drugs of low therapeutic utility and generic drug prescriptions by doctors. These data were analysed and compared with those of the control center. RESULTS: Our study showed positive changes in medical practice, reflected in the improvement of the evaluated parameters in the rural health area where the interventional study was carried out, compared with the control area. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of UniNet as a potential medium to improve the quality of medical care in rural areas. CONCLUSION: The rural doctors had an effective, useful, user-friendly and cheap source of medical information that may have contributed to the improvement observed in the medical quality indices.

[Tularemia: study of 27 patients]. / Tularemia: análisis de 27 casos.

BACKGROUND: There has been an important tularemia outbreak recently in Spain, which has prompted a high epidemiological interest. Our objective was to describe the series of tularemia cases with emphasis being paid on clinical characteristics and evolution of the disease. PATIENTS AND METHOD: We describe 27 cases of tularemia studied clinically and epidemiologically (survey of the Health Territorial Service at Burgos). Two cases were seen in December 2000 as isolated forms, while the rest of cases accumulated in form of outbreak between September 1997 and the first months of 1998. We performed a follow-up of patients including a questionnaire (via phone) to assess relapses or disease's consequences and complications. RESULTS: 48% patients were males and patients' mean age was 52 years (27 to 72). 96% patients had handled hares in relation to hunting practices. Main symptoms were weariness (92%), general discomfort (88%), lymph node enlargement (85%) and fever (81%). Skin lesions were seen in 77% patients. A delay in the initial diagnosis was found in 40% cases. Main complications included: lymph node suppuration (25%) and persistent weariness (18%). In patients with and without a diagnostic delay, 62/21% had lymph node enlargement longer than 1 month, 46/7% had adenopathy suppuration (p < 0.05) and 31/7% had persistent weariness, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical and epidemiological features of tularemia are similar to those described in previous reports. The disease behaved in a uniform and benign form without serious or evolutive complications. Diagnostic delay was the main added morbidity factor.