Clinical study of post operative wound infections in obstetrics and gynaecological surgeries in a tertiary care set up

Background: The study was performed with the aim to find out the incidence of post-operative wound infection among the elective and emergency obstetrics and gynaecological abdominal surgeries in the Dept. of OBGY, A.V.B.R.H., Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha with the objectives to identify the risk factors and most common causative micro-organism and to study the preventive aspects.Methods: This prospective observational study was carried out in the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital, Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha, India from August 2011 to August 2013.Results: During this period a total of 3475 patients underwent major abdominal surgeries, out of which 213 cases develop post operative wound infections with rate being 6.12%.The rate was found to be higher among the emergency obstetric case (51.17%) with the common risk factors being anaemia, advanced age and diabetes among gynaecological surgeries and prolonged rupture of membranes and previous LSCS and multiparity among obstetric cases. The common causative organism was found to be E. coli (36.15%).Conclusion: The merit of this study was to start the active surveillance of surgical site infections based on standard definitions and methods to be maintained by cooperation of infection control practitioners and surgical team. Identification of risk factors for surgical site infections to encourage the development of recommendations for prevention of SSI in order to achieve the setting goal to reduce the SSI.