Surgical wounds and their correlation with surgical technology Surgery is one of the most common medical practices in the United States. Patients of all ages who undergo surgery are left with some sort of surgical wound. Each surgical wound can be classified by the type of surgical procedure and will have a type of wound healing. Although only approximately 2.6% of surgical wounds become infected, surgical wounds can result in serious complications for a patient (Harbarth, Hoffmeyer, Lew, Peter & Pittet, 2010). One of the major complications of a surgical wound is postoperative infection. Due to the risk of surgical site infections, surgical technologists are among the operating room (OR) staff responsible for ensuring that all modifiable risks are minimized. Surgical wounds can be classified into four wound types; clean, clean-contaminated, contaminated and dirty. Clean and clean-contaminated surgical wounds are wounds involving the respiratory, genitourinary (GU), and gastrointestinal (GI) tracts. Clean surgical wounds refer to wounds that do not penetrate the aforementioned tracts, are predominantly closed, and have no signs of inflammation or infection. Surgical procedures that produce clean surgical wounds include laparoscopies, mastectomies, neck dissections, thyroid surgeries, and hernia repairs (Sheetz, Scally, Sexton, & Terhune, 2012). Clean-contaminated surgical wounds are similar to clean wounds, except that these types of wounds penetrate the respiratory, genitourinary, and gastrointestinal tracts. These particular surgical wounds have no evidence of unusual contamination and are associated with small bowel resections, liver transplants, and bronchoscopies (Sheetz et al., 2012). Contaminated… half of the document… surgical wounds: strategies to minimize complications. Contemporary OB/GYN, 57(9): 38-39. Retrieved from http://digital.healthcaregroup.advanstar.com/nxtbooks/advanstar/obgyn_201209/index.php?startid=38#/38.Harbarth, S., Hoffmeyer, P., Lew, D., Peter, R. & Pittet, D. (2010). Prevent surgical site infections. Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy, 8(6): 657. doi: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/10.1586/eri.10.41.Zinn, SP (n.d.). Wound healing: Types of wound healing. Retrieved January 28, 2014 from the Medical Student Learning Center official website: http://www.medstudentlc.com/page.php?id=67.Sheetz, K., Scally, C., Sexton, K., and Terhune, K. (2012). Classifications of surgical wounds. Retrieved January 28, 2014, from the official website of the University of Michigan: http://www.med.umich.edu/surgery/mast/r_surgwoundclass.html.