Guest editorial

Abstract

Surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance forms the major and most visible component of infection control surveillance activity. A recent Australian study has confirmed this but has also shown that SSI surveillance is very time-consuming. It is seen as intrinsically less complex than surveillance of equally important nosocomial infections; for example, ventilator-associated pneumonia. Nevertheless, when used as a clinical indicator, SSI often provides a poor measure of quality care as the end product is both unreliable and often invalid.