The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) today recognized seven hospitals for their excellent surgical care during 2016 at the annual Surgical Site Infection Prevention Summit in Madison, hosted by DHS and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The facilities were selected because the occurrence of surgical site infections among their patients was significantly lower than the national baseline in 2016.

Hospitals receiving recognition include Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin (Milwaukee), Gundersen Health System (La Crosse), Midwest Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (Franklin), Saint Agnes Hospital (Fond du Lac), Saint Elizabeth Hospital (Appleton), Sauk Prairie Healthcare (Prairie du Sac), and ThedaCare Regional Medical Center (Appleton).

“We extend our congratulations and express our appreciation for their long-standing partnerships with public health in promoting high quality health care,” said State Health Officer Karen McKeown.

This is the third surgical site infection prevention summit that DHS and the Medical College of Wisconsin have co-hosted, and is part of a statewide surgical site infection reduction initiative DHS launched in 2015.

“Surgical site infections are the most frequently reported type of healthcare-associated infection in Wisconsin,” said Healthcare-Associated Infection Program Manager Gwen Borlaug. “In response, we are lending support to hospitals working toward improved outcomes for patients who have surgery.”

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), support includes onsite visits to surgeons and surgical teams by Professor Emeritus Charles Edmiston, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Surgery, who provides information about the most current strategies to reduce surgical site infections.

The approach appears to be working. The 10 hospitals Dr. Edmiston visited between August and December in 2015 reduced their surgical site infection occurrence by 47 percent during 2016. This means 32 fewer patients experienced a surgical site infection in 2016 following their procedures compared to 2015.

“To see such remarkable results is gratifying,” said Dr. Edmiston. “It is a privilege to be part of this work. We commend surgical care teams throughout the state for working diligently to keep Wisconsin surgical patients safe.”

DHS also commissioned Dr. Edmiston to write the Wisconsin Supplemental SSI Prevention Guidance as an adjunct to the recently published CDC Surgical Site Infection Prevention Guideline(link is external). These two evidence-based documents define the group of practices to use consistently on all surgical patients to improve surgical outcomes.

The top 10 percent of facilities that have implemented and measured compliance with key components of this group of practices were also recognized at the summit:

• Ascension St. Michael’s  Hospital, Stevens Point
• Aurora Lakeland Medical Center, Elkhorn
• Aurora Medical Center, Grafton
• Bellin Hospital, Green Bay
• Black River Memorial Hospital, Black River Falls
• Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital, Milwaukee
• Holy Family Memorial Hospital, Manitowoc
• Marshfield Medical Center, Marshfield
• Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare, La Crosse
• Mayo Clinic Health System Red Cedar, Menomonie
• Sacred Heart Hospital, Eau Claire
• ThedaCare Medical Center, Berlin
• ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Appleton
• ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Neenah
• ThedaCare Medical Center, Shawano
• UnityPoint Health-Meriter, Madison
• Watertown Regional Medical Center, Watertown
• Western Wisconsin Health, Baldwin