Table 3.

Clinical Outcomes, Including Surgical Site Infections, Whether Surgical Site Infections Were Detected by the Protocol, and Hospital Readmissions

Operation	Between discharge and SSI detection, d	Treatment course	SSI detected by protocol	Readmission for SSI	Readmission for other reason
Right above-knee amputation	4	Peri-incisional erythema noted on PDD-4 images; brought to clinic the following day (7 d earlier than her scheduled follow- up); course of oral antibiotics	Yes	No	No
Transaortic thrombectomy, bilateral superficial femoral artery/profunda embolectomy, left popliteal cutdown with popliteal and tibial embolectomy	14	Peri-incisional erythema and swelling noted around calf incision on PDD-14 images; brought to clinic the next day (coincidental with previously scheduled follow-up appointment); course of oral antibiotics	Yes	No	No
Left femoral-to-below-knee- popliteal bypass	13	Peri-incisional erythema in groin incision noted on PDD-13 images; brought to clinic the following day (7 d earlier than his scheduled follow-up); wound opened and course of oral antibiotics	Yes	No	No
Left CFA endarterectomy	6	Peri-incisional erythema and superficial necrosis noted in groin incision on PDD- 6 images; brought to clinic the following day (7 d earlier than her scheduled follow- up); course of oral antibiotics	Yes	No	No
Left BKA	11	Peri-incisional erythema noted on PDD-11 images; asked but refused to come to clinic; ultimately returned to clinic on PDD-14 (5 d earlier than his scheduled follow-up); wound explored and packed, course of oral antibiotics	Yes	No	Yes, fell on amputation stump, requiring return the operating room for wound revision
Right CFA and profunda endarterectomy and right BKA	15	Peri-incisional erythema in groin incision noted on PDD-15 images; had already been readmitted to another hospital on PDD-2; our team spoke with his inpatient team to coordinate specialty wound care at that facility, including opening and packing his wound and initiating oral antibiotics	Yes	No	Yes, respiratory failure, hypercarbia, altered mental status
Left femoral-popliteal bypass	10	Peri-incisional erythema from left thigh incision noted on PDD-10 images; brought to the emergency department and given course of oral antibiotics	Yes	Yes, seen again in clinic on PDD 21, where purulent drainage from his incision was detected; readmitted with IV antibiotics and return to operating room for wound washout	No
Axillary bifemoral bypass	5	Discharged with close clinic follow-up 5 d later; he was diagnosed with an SSI at that clinic visit that our protocol had not detected; in retrospect, his initial submissions, there were early signs of an SSI that may have become more apparent had he not been seen in clinic so soon after discharge	No	No	No

BKA, below-knee amputation; CFA, common femoral artery; SSI, surgical site infection; PDD, postdischarge day.