Global Guidelines for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection

Excerpt

The first ever Global guidelines for the prevention of surgical site infection (SSI) were published on 3 November 2016, then updated in some parts and published in a new edition in December 2018. They include a list of 29 concrete recommendations on 23 topics for the prevention of SSI in the pre-, intra and postoperative periods, which are based on 28 systematic reviews of the evidence.

For the 2018 update, the membership of the guidelines development group (GDG) was broadened to include an additional eight anaesthesiology experts. The 2018 edition of the guidelines includes the revision of the recommendation regarding the use of 80% fraction of inspired oxygen (high FiO2) in surgical patients under general anaesthesia with tracheal intubation and the update of the section on implementation. Between 2017 and 2018, WHO re-assessed the evidence on the use of high FiO2 by updating the systematic review related to the effectiveness of this intervention to reduce SSI and commissioning an independent systematic review on adverse events potentially associated with it. Based on the updated evidence, the GDG decided to revise the strength of the recommendation from strong to conditional.