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Several measures have been shown to decrease the incidence of surgical-site infections (SSIs) due to Staphylococcus aureus, including identifying and decolonizing nasal S. aureus carriers and optimizing perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, with vancomycin for patients known to be colonized with methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Now, investigators have conducted a pragmatic multicenter trial to study the efficacy of these three interventions, bundled, in preventing complex (i.e., deep incisional or organ space) SSIs after cardiac surgeries and hip or knee arthroplasties.
Over a 5-year period, SSI rates were compared between preintervention and intervention periods at 20 urban hospitals in 9 U.S. states. Decolonization involved twice-daily int…