Background: Surgical site infections (SSI), the third-most-frequent nosocomial infection, are a problem in all fields of surgery. Assessing the level of one's own infection rates is often difficult, since there have been no suitable comparative data available in Germany in the past due to the lack of a uniform method of determining these rates.
Methods: Based on an American model, the Hospital Infection Surveillance System (KISS) has been carrying out a standard recording of SSI since 1997 in meanwhile 132 surgical departments of 89 hospitals. Specially trained hygiene personnel record SSI according to CDC definitions in selected indicator operations.
Results: Since January 1997, 1,549 SSI have been recorded in 71,038 operations using 13 different surgical techniques. The risk-ratified SSI rates for each of these surgical techniques are provided and can serve as orientational data for other departments.
Conclusion: The KISS reference data can help in assessing one's own SSI rates. A prerequisite is surveillance according to the KISS protocol.