Creative Approach to Reducing Worldwide Problem of Surgical Infection
Infections after surgery are the leading cause of morbidity for patients and costs to the health care system. World Health Organizations and International Surgical Societies are trying to mandate surgical hand hygiene as a top priority to decrease surgical infections.
A September 2023 landmark publication in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has a creative solution for this critical surgical problem. In collaboration with the International Surgical Infection Society and Alberta Health Services, Surgery Strategic Clinical Network, Dr. Khadaroo, Professor of Surgery, Surgeon and Critical Care Medicine Specialist at the University of Alberta, has evolved, an 8-minute video which teaches best practices of surgical hand hygiene. This is accessible to all surgery team members and all levels of medical and nursing trainees worldwide. In 2017, Dr. Khadaroo published with the Surgical Infection Society, a Randomized Control Trial demonstrating that video education significantly improves traditional education in teaching sterile surgical technique. The NEJM video and publication is being released on September 7, 2023. Dr. Khadaroo has been invited by NEJM to develop further videos in the area.
Rachel Khadaroo, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACS
Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery & Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Alberta Interim Scientific Director, Surgery Strategic Clinical Network (SCN), Alberta Health Services Certified Change Management Practitioner, Prosci
