In an attempt to reduce infection rates following coronary artery bypass graft surgery, surveillance was introduced that included post-discharge follow-up. Prospective surveillance was conducted over two periods, each of three-month duration.
Collated data indicated that using a sample size of 218 patients, 6.4% of infections occurred following discharge from the acute setting. These results had not previously been identified by the surveillance of the rate of surgical site infections occurring in in-patients alone.
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