Colorectal surgery surgical site infection prevention practices in British Columbia

Summary Surgical site infections (SSI) pose significant morbidity after colorectal surgery. We sought to document current practices in colorectal surgery SSI prevention in British Columbia (BC). Reporting the current provincial landscape on SSI prevention helps to understand the foundation upon which improvements can take place. We surveyed all BC surgeons performing elective colon and rectal resections, and 97 surveys were completed (60% response rate). Eighty-six per cent of respondent hospitals tracked SSI rates. The reported superficial SSI was less than 5% and the anastomotic leak/organ space rate was less than 10%. All respondents gave preoperative prophylactic antibiotics, with 24% continuing antibiotics postoperatively; 62% are using oral antibiotics (OAB) and mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) and 29% use MBP without OAB. Areas for improvement include OAB with MBP and discontinuing prophylactic antibiotics postoperatively, as recommended by the World Health Organization.