Comparison of Surveillance Strategies to Assess Cesarean Delivery Surgical Site Infections: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Cesarean delivery-associated surgical site infections (CD-SSIs) significantly increase maternal morbidity but have not been systematically reported. Surveillance strategies have been inconsistent in assessing CD-SSIs. This study aimed to compare the different methods of assessing CD-SSI incidence. Two surveillance strategies have been evaluated: electronic medical record (EMR) review and postpartum phone call. The difference in the CD-SSI incidence assessed through EMR review (4.7%) and postpartum phone call (8.9%) was statistically significant (P < 0.001); this suggests that EMR review alone may underestimate the incidence of CD-SSIs and that phone call surveillance is likely more effective for detecting cases of CD-SSIs.