A study has revealed that using a prescreening program for the identification and eradication of Staphylococcus aureus among patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery can help significantly reduce the likelihood of postoperative surgical site infections.
The study was published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and conducted on more than 7,000 patients undergoing the procedures at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston.
The prescreening program employed a"rapid polymerase chain reaction analysis of nasal swabs followed by an eradication protocol of intranasal mupirocin and chlorhexidine showers for identified carriers," according to the study's abstract.
Read the abstract of the study on prescreening staph.