Skin Preparation in Prevention of Surgical Site Infection in Paediatric Abdominal Surgeries at The University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Purpose: Many studies on preoperative antiseptic agents are inconclusive. This study attempts to find the more effective combination antiseptic agent in pediatric surgical patients. Methodology: This was a prospective randomized study on paediatric patients. Preoperative skin preparation for each group was done with the assigned antiseptic combination. Patients were followed up on the 14th,21st and 30th postoperative days. The primary outcome measures were the incidence of SSI in both groups, Secondary outcome measures was the prevalent flora in patients with SSI. The data from the folders were collected and collated. A ninety-five percent confidence interval and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Continuous variables were presented in means and standard deviation. Results were presented in tables. Findings: The rate of SSI in the chlorhexidine-alcohol group was 6.9% and that of the povidone-iodine/alcohol group was 9.7%. The odds ratio was 0.71 in favour of the chlorhexidine/alcohol group, but the result was not statistically significant(p=0.228) Organisms isolated were mostly monomicrobial, with Escherichia coli accounting for 50% of the cases. Unique Contributions to Theory, Policy and Practice: The study found that the patients who received chlorhexidine-alcohol as a skin antiseptic had a lower incidence of SSI than those who received povidone-iodine/alcohol; however, this was not statistically significant. Earlier studies had initially stated that the povidone-iodine/alcohol was better.