Patient participation in surgical site infection prevention: perceptions of nurses, physicians and patients.
Mayra de Castro Oliveira, Camila Dalcól, Rhanna Emanuela Fontenele Lima de Carvalho and 1 others
PMID 37494034WHAT IT FOUND
Both surgical patients and clinicians agree that patient involvement helps prevent infections, but they disagree on when to start.
Clinicians prefer preoperative education, while patients want it postoperatively. They also prefer different follow-up methods after discharge.
Key findings
01A majority of both patients and health professionals agreed that patient participation is important for preventing surgical site infections and that it can reduce infection rates.
02There was a significant disagreement about timing: health professionals preferred the preoperative period for patient participation, while patients preferred the postoperative period.
03Preferences for post-discharge follow-up differed significantly, with most professionals preferring outpatient returns and a majority of patients preferring WhatsApp messages.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used a convenience sample, which limits the ability to generalize the findings to all surgical populations. Patients were only approached in the postoperative period, which may bias their recall or perception of the preoperative experience. The survey instrument was created by the authors and only underwent face validation by experts, rather than extensive psychometric testing. The study was conducted in Brazil, so cultural and healthcare system factors may influence preferences for communication and follow-up methods.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these preferences as evidence that WhatsApp follow-up or postoperative education reduces infection rates. This study only measured what patients and professionals believed and preferred, not whether these strategies actually improved clinical outcomes.