The proportion of infections linked to the surgical site (SSI) rose from 13.5% in 2012 to around 16% in 2017. However, according to an IPSOS survey for Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices and the French Society of Hospital Hygiene, less than one in 3 French people consider themselves correctly informed about these infections even though they are among the most common infections.
A surgical site infection is an infection that occurs within 30 days of surgery, or within a year if a prosthesis (permanent implant such as a heart valve or joint prosthesis). While the challenges in terms of health are real, the economic impacts are also very important since a declared infection associated with healthcare multiplies by 3 the length of stay in hospital.
“There is still a need to educate people on this subject, including for people who have been operated on during the year, since barely half of them feel they are well informed” can we read in the conclusions of the investigation. We note that 94% of people questioned know that infections can be serious and represent a fatal risk, but 18% of respondents believe that they primarily affect people who have poor hygiene. While the risk of an infection occurring depends on multiple factors related to the surgery itself, the patient being operated on and the operating room environment.
Before a surgical intervention, informing patients that there are postoperative infections is an essential element in the care process for 66% of French people who consider themselves poorly informed and for 73% of those operated on. in the last 12 months who also consider themselves in need of information.
Source: Survey carried out by the Ipsos institute from May 7 to 19, 2018, with a representative national sample of 1009 French people aged 18 and over interviewed online and with a sample of 100 individuals who have been operated on in the last 12 month.
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