Improvement of surgical wound classification following a targeted training program at a children's hospital
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Abstract
Background
Inaccurate assignment of surgical wound class (SWC) remains a challenge in perioperative documentation. The purpose of our intervention was to increase the accuracy of SWC through a targeted training program directed toward pediatric surgeons and nurses.
Methods
A retrospective electronic medical record (EMR) chart review of 400 operations was performed according to NSQIP criteria during specified periods in 2014 and 2017, assessing SWC errors before and after a training program and posting of reference materials in operating rooms at a 165-bed children's hospital. After each operation, nurses confirmed SWC with the surgeon before recording the value in the EMR. Differences in proportions of misclassified SWC were evaluated with a chi-square test.
Results
Following the educational program, misclassified SWC improved from 70/200 (35.0%) to 18/200 (9.0%), p
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