Feasibility of a Mobile Phone-Based Surveillance for Surgical Site Infections in Rural India.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the feasibility of using mobile communication technology in completing a 30-day follow-up of surgical site infection (SSI).


METHODS
SSIs are infections occurring up to 30 days after an operative procedure. This prospective exploratory study was conducted in a cohort of patients who were admitted and operated on in the general surgery wards of a rural hospital in India from October 2010 to June 2011. At the time of discharge, all patients were requested to follow-up in the surgical outpatient clinic at 30 days after surgery. If this was not done, a mobile phone-based surveillance was done to complete the follow-up.


RESULTS
The mean age of the 536 operated-on patients was 40 years (95% confidence interval [CI], 38-41 years). The mean duration of hospital stay was 10.7 days (95% CI, 9.9-11.6 days). Most (81%) operated-on patients were from rural areas, and 397 (75%) were male. Among the operated-on patients the ownership of mobile phones was 75% (95% CI, 73-78%). The remaining 25% of patients (n=133) used a shared mobile phone. For 380 patients (74.5%) the follow-up was completed by mobile phones. The SSI rate at follow-up was 6.3% (n=34). In 10 patients, an SSI was detected over the mobile phone.


CONCLUSIONS
Mobile communication technology is feasible to be used in rural settings to complete case follow-up for SSIs.
1 Global Health/IHCAR, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm, Sweden .|2 Department of Paediatrics, Ruxmaniben Deepchand Gardi Medical College , Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India .|3 Department of Women and Children's Health, International Maternal and Child Health Unit, Uppsala University , Uppsala, Sweden .
Ashish
A
Pathak
4 Department of Surgery, Ruxmaniben Deepchand Gardi Medical College , Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India .
Shailendra
S
Sharma
1 Global Health/IHCAR, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm, Sweden .|5 Department of Pharmacology, Ruxmaniben Deepchand Gardi Medical College , Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India .
Megha
M
Sharma
6 Ruxmaniben Deepchand Gardi Medical College , Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India .
Vijay K
VK
Mahadik
1 Global Health/IHCAR, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm, Sweden .
Cecilia Stålsby
CS
Lundborg
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D040421:Cell Phone; D005260:Female; D006780:Hospitals, Rural; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
India; mobile phones; rural; surgical site infections; surveillance