Surgical site infections (SSIs) associated with coronary artery bypass graft surgery
Why is this measure important?
Coronary artery bypass graft surgery is a type of medical procedure in which a doctor repairs arteries that lead to the heart. When an artery in the patient’s heart becomes blocked, coronary artery bypass surgery can restore blood flow to the heart. During surgery, a healthy blood vessel is removed from the patient’s arm, leg, chest, or abdomen (stomach). The healthy blood vessel is then connected to other arteries in the patient’s heart. This allows blood to travel through the healthy blood vessel and “bypass” the blockage.
Sometimes the area of the body where the surgery takes place can become infected. This is called a surgical site infection (SSI). SSIs can involve the skin, tissues under the skin, organs, or implanted material. SSIs can cause serious problems and even death.
Hospital staff members can prevent most SSIs after coronary artery bypass surgery by following the infection control guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hospitals following these safety guidelines will likely have low numbers in this measure.
What does this measure show?
The surgical site infections associated with coronary artery bypass graft surgery score is shown as a Standardized Infection Ratio (SIR). This ratio is found by comparing the number of SSIs associated with coronary bypass surgery at Northwestern Memorial to a national benchmark.
Northwestern Memorial’s performance in this measure is placed into one of three categories based on the results of a statistical analysis that compares our performance with the performance ratio of other hospitals. These categories are:
· Statistically significantly better than the national average, or performing at the best possible rate
· Not statistically significantly better or worse than the national average
· Statistically significantly worse than the national average
Based on the statistical analysis, our most recent ratio is within a range of ratios that is considered to be “Not statistically significantly better or worse than national average.”
For this measure, a lower number is better.