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The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British Volume
Vol. 87-B, Issue 7 | Pages 997 - 999
1 Jul 2005
Reilly J Noone A Clift A Cochrane L Johnston L Rowley DI Phillips G Sullivan F

Post-discharge surveillance of surgical site infection is necessary if accurate rates of infection following surgery are to be available. We undertook a prospective study of 376 knee and hip replacements in 366 patients in order to estimate the rate of orthopaedic surgical site infection in the community. The inpatient infection was 3.1% and the post-discharge infection rate was 2.1%. We concluded that the use of telephone interviews of patients to identify the group at highest risk of having a surgical site infection (those who think they have an infection) with rapid follow-up by a professional trained to diagnose infection according to agreed criteria is an effective method of identifying infection after discharge from hospital.