Pre - and postoperative infection preventive information for surgical patient

The purpose of this thesis was to develop the preoperative information given for elective surgical patients in the hospital of Kätilöopisto. The aim of this study was to find out a possible lack of preoperative instructions and how to develop the preoperative patient education materials to prevent the surgical site infection (SSI). The theoretical framework of this study included patient education, infection prevention, nursing improvement and surgical site infection. The study was done by conducting a survey on preoperatively given information to elective surgical patients and the professional staff members. This study used triangulation; quantitative and qualitative research methods to find out the patients and professionals perceptions on the already existing preoperative information. The triangulation was used to increase trustworthiness of the results. Data from the patients’ questionnaires was collected with quantitative research method. Out of 60 questionnaires served, 31 patients responded to the survey. The data was analyzed with a statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). 6 professional nurses participated in a collaborative workshop on a quality of instructions after the analysis of patients’ data. The workshop data was qualitative and analyzed with data driven content analysis. The data pointed out the need for development of preoperative patient education material. Parts of the essential guidelines were missing from the given instructions and some of the instructions were updated last in 2009. The patients were more pleased with the appearance and the content of the instructions than the professional nurses, but both informant groups stated there was no refer to infection prevention or control in the instructions. Therefore, this data indicates the need for instructions of better quality as well as for more detailed patient education. This study provides information of the current state of the preoperative educational material for the surgical patient in the hospital of Kätilöopisto, and a starting point for further development of the preoperative instructions