Role of Preoperative Chlorhexidine Bathing in Prevention of Surgical Site Infections among Women Undergoing Obstetric and Gynecological Procedures

Objective: To evaluate the role of preoperative bathing with chlorhexidine solution in reducing surgical site infections among women undergoing obstetric and gynecological operative procedures. Results: Surgical site infection rate (SSI) was significantly low in preoperative bathing with chlorhexidine group 1 (0.32%) as compared to non-bathing group 2 (1.89%). The clinical characteristics like diabetes, emergency and previous surgery patients showed statistically significant SSI rate in patients who did not take bath as compared to bath group. Conclusion: Our study showed that chlorhexidine pre-operative bath is safe for SSI prevention. however further research analysis is required for its role in clean surgery before implementing it in health policy especially in developing countries.