8803-26 - Contamination and SSI Risks with Compounding in the OR: How to Keep Your Patients Safe

Wound irrigation is a common perioperative practice intended to reduce the risk of surgical site infection. Because many wound irrigation solutions are compounded and must remain sterile to protect the patient from introducing any infection risk, perioperative professionals should be familiar with the updated US Pharmacopeia (USP) compounding standards in Chapter < 797> on sterile compounding, as well as risks associated with irrigation solution contamination. Sterile compounding practices required by USP, as well as wound irrigation guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and professional associations like the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) should be followed. This program is intended to optimize safe and effective wound irrigation strategies by outlining the latest sterile compounding practices and associated updates to nursing workflow. With this knowledge, surgical team members will have the tools to be compliant in sterile compounding practices as it relates to wound irrigation and be better prepared to protect patients from surgical site infection.