Improving Compliance with Preoperative Nasal Povidone-Iodine to Prevent Surgical Site Infection in Vascular and Neurosurgery Services in a Community Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Surgical site infections (SSI) remain a cause of morbidity, prolonged hospitalization, surgical readmission, and death. Nasal colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcal aureus is a frequent cause of device-related SSI and nasal mupirocin has been used for prevention. More recently, povidone-iodine nasal swabs have become an alternative. It is cheaper, ensures compliance and there are no concerns regarding antimicrobial resistance. However, its adoption was suboptimal in a community hospital system in southwestern Ohio, especially in neurosurgery and vascular surgery. Quality improvement techniques, including solicitation of stakeholder input, surgeons and perioperative nurses' education, and the use of reminders to order and administer the povidone-iodine nasal swabs improved physician ordering and nurse administration compliance, leading to fewer infections. The interventions continued after the project was completed, sustaining decreases in neurosurgery and vascular surgery, and fewer SSI through the first years of the pandemic. Despite the complexity of these surgeries, simple interventions were effective in addressing the problem.