Using established guidelines, critique the data collection, analysis, and implications of a published quantitative study.
In a study done by Pinto, de Souza, da Silva, Jenné Mimica, and Graziano (2010), a look at the microbial load in instruments used in orthopedic surgeries was done because of the incidence of infection. Hip and knee replacement surgeries has increased with a total of 150,000 prosthetic surgeries estimated per year in the United States and 400,000 worldwide (Pinto et al., 2010). Literature show that 1% to 5% of hip arthroplasties become infected (Pinto et al., 2010).
Research Methods
The study was an exploratory cross-sectional study, with a quantitative approach to determine the microbial load on the instruments. The study identified genus, species, and amount of microorganisms in the positive growth cultures, also considering variables as implications were; surgical procedure duration and whether surgeries were the first surgical procedure of the day (Pinto et al., 2010).
Data Collection
Data collection consisted of 227 samples were collected, of which 76 were collected from 29 clean surgeries, 76 from 26 contaminated surgeries and 75 from 26 infected surgeries. To compose the samples, a variety of surgical instruments was selected from different orthopedic procedures, including instruments with and without grooves, articulated instruments, and those with lumens (Pinto et al., 2010).
Analysis/Findings
In clean surgeries, 47% of the instruments were contaminated; in contaminated surgeries, 70%; and, in infected surgeries, 80%. Regardless of the contamination potential of the surgeries, the highest quantitative incidence of microorganism recovery was located in the 1 to 100 colony-forming unit range, and 13 samples presented a microbial growth potential >300 colony-forming units. Regardless of the contamination potential of the surgeries, what cultured was negative-coagulase Staphylococcus growth (28%, clean surgeries; 32%, contaminated surgeries; and 29%, infected surgeries) and Staphylococcus aureus (28%, contaminated surgeries; and 43%, infected surgeries) (Pinto et al., 2010).
Fewer microorganisms were recovered from instruments used in clean surgeries in comparison with those used in contaminated and infected surgeries. The incidence of contaminated instruments in clean surgeries (47%) strongly supports the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in this type of surgery.