title: Evaluation of anesthetic technique on surgical site infections (SSIs) at a single institution.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether the previously published relationship between anesthetic technique and rate of surgical site infections (SSIs) was influenced by institution specific effects.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective Review of Quality Assurance and Hospital Epidemiology databases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Metropolitan medical center.
  
  
  METHODS
  The records of 7,751 patients who underwent knee or hip joint replacement from 2004 to 2010 were analyzed. Data regarding anesthetic technique, age, ASA status, gender, postoperative temperature, duration of anesthesia and type of surgery were from the department of anesthesiology quality assurance database and SSI cases were identified from the department of epidemiology database. The impact of anesthetic technique and other variables was assessed using bivariate and multivariate techniques.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no association of anesthetic technique on the rate of SSI. Duration of anesthesia and ASA status were associated with effects on the rate of SSI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The impact of anesthetic technique on SSI following hip and knee replacement surgery may be site specific and using locally gathered quality data may assist in assessing specific institutional impact.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Maine Medical Center, 22 Bramhall St., Portland, ME 04102, USA. Electronic address: curryc@spectrummg.com.
authors.forename: Craig S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Curry
authors.affiliation: Maine Medical Center Research Institute, 81 Research Dr., Scarborough, ME 04074, USA.
authors.forename: Kahsi A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Maine Medical Center, 22 Bramhall St., Portland, ME 04102, USA.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Allyn
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000379:methods*; D000777:Anesthetics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip / Q000379:methods; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D000777:Anesthetics
keywords: Anesthesia; Anesthetic technique; General neuraxial; Surgical site infection