The World Health Organization (WHO) has released the "Global Guidelines for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection" that includes a list of 29 concrete recommendations, according to an article on the WHO website.
The recommendations are designed to address the increasing burden of healthcare associated infections on both patients and healthcare systems globally.
In the U.S., surgical infections contribute to patients spending more than 400,000 extra days in hospital at a cost of an additional $900 million per year.
The guidelines include 13 recommendations for the period before surgery and 16 for preventing infections during and after surgery.