Abstract

Surgical wound infection is defined as infections that occur at or near surgical incision within
30 days of operation or after 1 year if an implant is placed. This study determined factors
associated with Surgical wound infection among patients operated in Surgical ward at
Kiryandongo general Hospital. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study design which
employed both quantitative and qualitative methods in data collection. The study found out
that of the 100 patients who underwent major surgical procedures in Kiryandongo General
Hospital, 15 (15.0%) had surgical site infection. Host factors associated with Surgical Site
Infection among participants were Age(P-value,0.001), Sex(P-value,0.032), Level of education
(P-value,0.002), weight (P-value,0.027), BMI(P-value,0.006), Level of blood sugar (Pvalue,
0.001), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (P-value,0.041) and temperature (P-value,0.005).
The study also revealed that surgical site infection was associated with duration of hospital
stay (P-value,0.004), Cadre of the operating surgeon(P-value,0.000), Duration of the
operation(P-value,0.003), type of antibiotic used pre-operatively(P-value,0.041), type of
sutures used(P-value,0.023) and cleanliness of wounds(P-value,0.007). Surgical site infections
continue to be a major public health problem. The risk factors associated with Surgical
wound infection were age, male gender, level of education, height, weight, BMI, blood sugar,
nutrition, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, fever, duration of hospital stay, type of incision,
cadre of surgeon, duration of the procedure, type of the operation, antibiotics, type of the
sutures used and type of wound.