Surgical wound classification is frequently unreliable, according to a multicenter review of 2,034 cases.
Overall concordance between surgical wound classification (SWC) from the electronic medical record and SWC from operative note review was only 56%, ranging from 47% to 66% across 11 participating institutions.
The degree of discordance also varied according to the specific operation, with inguinal hernia repair having the highest overall median concordance at 92% and appendectomy having the lowest at just 12%.
“Using unreliable measures, such as current SWC assignment methods, can lead to biased study results and misleading portrayals of hospital quality. Surgical wound classification should not be used for SSI [surgical site infection] risk stratification until a more consistent process can be developed and validated,” Dr. Shauna M. Levy, lead study author, concluded.
Read the full article: J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2015;220;323-9.