Johnson & Johnson MedTech Joins Experts to Define and Classify Surgical Site Outcomes

December 5, 2024 – – MedTech, Surgical Site Infections

Healthcare experts call for consistent definitions in the assessment, reporting, and monitoring of surgical wounds
A standardized classification system offers potential to capture and treat underreported surgical site infections and other wound complications

5 December 2024 – New Brunswick, NJ, US – Johnson & Johnson MedTech, a global leader in surgical technologies and solutions, today joined leading surgeons from around the world to initiate a standardized classification system for the global evaluation and reporting of surgical site outcomes (SSOs). Experts from across surgical specialties and healthcare disciplines aim to develop a standardized approach for surgeons and wound care teams to more fully capture the scope and incidence of postoperative complications, enabling improved approaches to prevention.

Wound complications including infections, bleeding, wound reopenings, and fluid collections result in a significant burden for patients and global healthcare systems. Despite the prevalence of these complications in perioperative care, post-operative wound outcomes are underreported, and there is currently no comprehensive global standard for defining and monitoring.

Building on the company’s more than 135 years of leadership in surgery and significant work in reducing surgical site infections (SSIs), Johnson & Johnson MedTech is joining the effort to better define and standardize the evaluation of SSOs and measure the associated outcomes.

“As long-time partners to surgeons and surgical teams around the world, we know firsthand the impact that surgical complications can have on patient outcomes and the overall cost of care globally,” said Nisha Johnson, President, Wound Closure and Healing & Biosurgery, Johnson & Johnson MedTech. “The industry is calling for consistent definitions, standard solutions that improve outcomes, and a comprehensive approach to reporting and data collection that helps advance healing and improve the surgery experience for patients.”

Expanding beyond SSIs: addressing adverse Surgical Site Outcomes

Complications at the surgical wound site occur at higher rates than any other kind of adverse event in hospitalized patients, responsible for more than 25% of surgical readmissions.

SSIs are common, and can be dangerous and costly and are often the focus of wound complication reporting, accounting for up to 31% of all hospital-acquired infections. However, SSIs are still underreported, largely due to improper and inconsistent identification methods among health systems. These infections often relate to other post-surgical wound complications including wound breakdown, fluid accumulation, and localized bleeding.

“When most people think about wounds, they think about surgical site infections, but wounds can dehisce, seromas can form, and hematomas can appear. All of these things need to be brought together in a common language so that we can describe the surgical site outcome for every single operation that includes every single type of surgical incision,” said Giles Bond-Smith*, MD, MBBS BSc, FRCS, a general surgeon at NHS Oxford Trust. “I am thrilled to come together with other experts in the field, from around the world, to advance our common language in surgery with the aim of reducing the occurrence of surgical complications for patients.”

Expanding surveillance beyond only SSIs by including other complications has the potential to support care teams so that wound complications are more consistently captured and reported, putting the focus on visibility into patient conditions and appropriate intervention and treatment.

“Clear definitions are the first step to attempt to classify all types of wound complications so that we can improve reporting to drive earlier intervention,” said Antonia Chen**, MD, MBA, an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacements. “In orthopaedic surgery, wound complications vary relative to other specialties, with significant focus on closure-related interventions to manage dehiscence. Creating a system that fits across all specialties to address surgical site outcomes throughout the body can drive global consistency in care standards that the industry is missing today.”

Consistent reporting could fuel a data-informed, predictive future of surgical wound care

Digital solutions can help improve surveillance of surgical wound complications. Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s Polyphonic™ digital ecosystem will connect data across world-class surgical technologies, robotics, and surgical software while leveraging the global scale of Johnson & Johnson. Leveraging the Polyphonic™ ecosystem, the company will explore patient monitoring based on new, standard reporting guidelines as determined in SSO classification.

“Digital is a bridge to getting patients more involved in their surgical care,” said Shan Jegatheeswaran, Vice President, Digital, Johnson & Johnson MedTech. “Building on a foundation of standard definitions across the primary contributors to surgical site outcomes, digital solutions connecting surgical teams and patients can be used to encourage more reporting, better wound care management, and increased patient engagement. In the future, these kind of standard classification systems have the potential to enable more personalized models before, during, and after surgery.”

Surgical Solutions from Johnson & Johnson MedTech

Across Johnson & Johnson, we are tackling the world’s most complex and pervasive health challenges. For over 100 years, we have helped advance surgical care through our innovative portfolio across wound closure, adjunctive hemostats, surgical stapling and instruments, robotics and digital solutions. Together, with clinicians and healthcare experts around the world we are progressing what’s next in surgery to better solve patient needs in metabolic and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and aesthetics and reconstruction.