A hairy tale: successful patient education strategies to reduce prehospital hair removal by patients undergoing elective caesarean section
- Resource Type
- Authors
- M.F. Ho; Wil Ng; B. Kerr; Doreen Alexander; Kevin Katz; M. Amato
- Source
- The Journal of hospital infection. 83(1)
- Subject
- Microbiology (medical)
Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
medicine.medical_treatment
Psychological intervention
Hair Removal
Young Adult
Patient Education as Topic
Pregnancy
Preoperative Care
medicine
Hair removal
Humans
Surgical Wound Infection
Caesarean section
Young adult
Risk factor
integumentary system
business.industry
Cesarean Section
Health services research
Infant, Newborn
General Medicine
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Surgery
Infectious Diseases
Emergency medicine
Female
Health Services Research
business
Patient education
- Language
- ISSN
- 1532-2939
Inappropriate hair removal is a risk factor for postoperative surgical site infections (SSIs). A series of obstetric patient awareness interventions were introduced regarding hair self-removal before presentation at hospital. Active inpatient and outpatient surveillance of SSIs following caesarean section was undertaken prospectively. The rate of hair self-removal decreased significantly from 41% (2008) to 27% (2011) after implementation of posters and enhanced prenatal education (P = 0.048). Concurrently, a 51% reduction was seen in the SSI rate following caesarean section. This multi-faceted strategy proved successful in reducing prehospital hair self-removal overall, particularly shaving. Other simultaneous SSI prevention interventions are also likely to have contributed to the reduction in SSI rate.