Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Rate
Percentage of surgical procedures resulting in a surgical site infection
What is Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Rate?
Surgical site infection rate is the percentage of surgical procedures followed by an infection at the operation site. It shows how well infection control works around surgery.
These infections harm patients and extend hospital stays, so a low rate is a key sign of safe surgical care.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Operations & Supply Chain
- Sub-function
- Surgical Performance
- Industry
- Healthcare
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Quality
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Monthly
- Formula
- (Procedures with SSI / Total procedures performed) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide procedures with a surgical site infection by total procedures performed, and multiply by 100.
For example, if 12 of 1,000 procedures had an infection, the rate is 1.2%.
Use standard surveillance definitions and follow patients for the recognised period after surgery. Compare like procedures.
Where it is used
Monitoring patient safety
Track infections.
Targeting prevention
Find high-risk procedures.
Reporting
Meet requirements.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Compare like procedures and patient risk.
- Follow-up after discharge is essential for accuracy.
- Report openly and learn.
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