Surgical wound infection as a performance indicator: agreement of common definitions of wound infection in 4773 patients

Abstract

Small changes made to the CDC definition or even in its interpretation, as with the NINSS version, caused major variation in estimated percentage of wound infection. Substantial numbers of wounds were differently classified across the grades of infection. A single definition used consistently can show changes in percentage wound infection over time at a single centre, but differences in interpretation prevent comparison between different centres.