OBJECTIVE: A study was accomplished in order to observe the infection incidence in patients operated in the Hospital Universitário-UFRN. METHODS: a prospective study was performed involving 3120 patients submitted to surgical procedures from january 1999 to october 2000. RESULTS: The nosocomial surgical infection ratio was 5,99%. Surgical wound infection was the most common (3,7%), followed by respiratory infection (1,2%), urinary (0,6%), intraabdominal (0,3%) and bacteremia (0,1%). The communitary infection ratio was 9,2%. From these, the urynary infection was the most common (5%), followed by respiratory (2,1%). Infection occured in 2,9% of 1479 clean wounds, 6% of 1277 clean-contaminated, 15,1% of contaminated and 30,7% of infected wounds. CONCLUSION: These data permit to conclude that the incidence of surgical infection is compatible with that observed in the world literature. So, it confirms the importance of the nosocomial infection control in a systematic way, as it has been accomplished in the studied hospital.
Surgical infection; Postoperative; Incidence; Surgery
