Open Heart Surgery in India: The Challenges of Reducing Infections
Open heart surgery in India involves cutting open the chest and performing surgery on the muscles, valves, or arteries of the heart. You can help minimise some risks by taking care of yourself and your incision.
According to the Indian Association of Cardiovascular Thoracic Surgeons (IACTS), coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) accounts for approximately 60% of all heart surgeries in the country. However, despite its efficacy, infection control is a critical aspect of patient safety.
The IACTS has published guidelines on preventing Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) in cardiac surgery. These guidelines highlight the importance of hand hygiene, antibiotic prophylaxis, and surgical site preparation. Therefore, your doctor will take steps to reduce the risks of post-operative wound infections.
However, there are things that you can do to help yourself, especially if you are overweight or have diabetes.
Take Antibiotics
Your surgical team will give you a preventive or “prophylactic” antibiotic one hour before the open heart surgery in India. In fact, antibiotics will be administered intravenously both before and after your procedure. You’re less likely to get a wound infection with these steps.
In addition to antibiotics administered within one hour of your skin incision, you will receive another injection about 24 hours after your surgery. This is the upper limit because overuse of antibiotics can lead to resistance.
Remove hair
During open heart surgery prep, your surgical team will remove hair from the areas where the surgeon will make the skin incision.
Timing is important here. The team should remove the hair just before the doctor makes the skin incision. If the surgical team removes the hair too far in advance, there is a risk of developing infections in the minor cuts that occur with any hair removal.
Lose weight if needed.
If you are overweight, you have a greater risk of developing an infection. So it’s recommended before any elective surgery that you lose some weight if time allows. Some teams schedule open heart surgery in India weeks in advance. You can use this opportunity to eat healthier and focus on exercise.
Monitor your blood sugar if needed.
If you have diabetes, you’ll want to keep your blood sugar under control as much as possible.
Monitor your blood sugars (up to four times per day) from two weeks before your surgery, drink plenty of fluids, and call your doctor if your blood sugars are consistently above 250. The better controlled your blood sugars are before the open heart surgery in India, the lower your risk of developing an infection.
Take care of your wound
Before you are discharged from the hospital, the surgical team will teach you how to care for your wound. This is critical in preventing a wound infection. So make sure you understand the discharge instructions and ask questions if you don’t.
Whether you have a minimally invasive, smaller incision, or large incisions in both your breast bone and your chest, carefully monitor all of your wound sites to watch out for infection. When checking your wounds, make sure your hands are clean.
Always follow your doctor’s instructions for showering and bathing, and never hesitate to call your doctor if you have any questions.
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