One of the most effective treatment methods of obesity is surgery. Bariatric surgery is classified as a clean-contaminated wound. The expected benefit from surgery is weight loss. However, surgical site infection is among the complications. Although many methods are applied to reduce these rates, it is not very possible to reduce them to zero. It is predicted that the incidence of infection will decrease with surgical care packages created from the combination of evidence-based interventions applied.

This study was a randomized controlled trial designed to determine the effect of the Surgical Site Infection (SSI) prevention package on SSI and patient comfort in patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

The questions to be answered by the research are;

• What is the effect of the care package applied to patients undergoing bariatric surgery on surgical site infection?
• What is the effect of the care package applied to patients undergoing bariatric surgery on comfort? .Patients aged 18 and over who have had bariatric surgery (sleeve gastrectomy) will be taken from a private hospital in Kayseri. All surgeries will be performed by the same surgeon. The care package (identification of risk factors, antibiotic prophylaxis, normothermia, normoglycemia and patient education) prepared for the experimental group will be applied. On the 30th day, the patient is called by phone and the surgical site infection findings are questioned.

Surgical Site Infection (SSI) was identified by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a secondary surgical infection within 30 days after surgery. 2017 Health Service Related Infections Surveillance Network report in Turkey, according to the overall SSI rate is 0.72. A study in the literature found the incidence of as 22.2% after abdominal surgery. SSI has been shown to affect one in about every five patients undergoing abdominal surgery and has an incidence of approximately 20%-25% ' associated with contamination. In a comprehensive study conducted in Turkey, it was determined that SSI was seen in the third row after upper gastrointestinal (GIS) surgery and 47.06% of the patients were diagnosed with SSI after discharge.

In a retrospective study investigating the factors that predispose to SSI in general surgery; American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, wound classification (clean-contaminated, contaminated and dirty/infected wounds), operation history, prolongation of operation time, hypoalbuminemia, history of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease were defined as major risk factors for the development of SSI. Preoperative low hemoglobin, history of congestive heart failure, excessive alcohol use, surgery at the previous incision site, presence of existing infection, long preoperative and postoperative hospital stay, obesity, steroid use, preoperative epilation, operative data (surgeon's experience, incision device) , drain use, prosthetic mesh use, intraoperative blood transfusion) are other risk factors that increase the risk of SSI.It is suggested that by determining risk factors to reduce the incidence of SSI, it reduces hospital stay and health spending and decreases morbidity and mortality rates.

Bariatric surgery is an effective and widely used treatment for obese patients. The expected benefit from this surgical treatment is weight loss. In addition, this surgery can lead to the development of complications that have significant effects on morbidity and mortality.The use of antimicrobial prophylaxis for organisms causing SSI is important in bariatric surgery. The purpose of antibiotic prophylaxis is to reduce the bacterial load to a level that can be controlled by host defenses.

İnadvertent Perioperative Hypothermia (IPH) (body temperature below 36 °C) is a risk factor for the development of SSI. In a study investigating the effect of hypothermia on SSI in gastroenterological surgery, hypothermia was found to be associated with a higher incidence of organ/space SSI. IPH can cause prolonged hospital stay, cardiac morbidity, increased blood loss, and many complications such as tissue hypoxia and SSI due to neutrophil dysfunction.The CDC recommends maintaining perioperative normothermia to prevent SSI, and the recommendation is considered as the evidence level category IA. The current guidelines propose to use effective heating methods to maintain normothermia in the perioperative period and to measure the patient's body temperature.

Hyperglycemia is another independent risk factor for SSI. In a retrospective study, it was shown that serum glucose level higher than 110 mg/dL is associated with a gradual increase in post-surgical infection rates, and performing glycemic control in the first 48 hours after surgery reduces SSIs. CDC recommended performing perioperative glycemic control in patients with and without diabetes and use blood glucose target levels below 200 mg/dL.( Category IA - strong recommendation; high to medium quality evidence ). Hyperglycemia is a preventable variable to reduce the incidence of SSI.

Another important factor for SSI prevention is patient education. For this reason, the patient and his family should be trained to prevent proper wound care and SSI. However, the benefit of existing patient education materials is uncertain, and a limited number of patient training materials for SSI prevention were found for patients with bariatric surgery.

The concept of "Care Package" has been brought to the agenda by the American Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in order to achieve more optimal results by applying the interventions with positive results individually in line with evidence-based approaches. IHI has the criteria for inclusion of an element in the care package; It has identified it as consensus and high acceptance, providing solid evidence for clinical change, with little or no discussion of its activities. Maintenance packages with few and simple items have been determined to have better compliance rates. In a systematic review and meta-analysis study, it was reported that the use of SSI measure packages was estimated to prevent 60% of the incidence of SSI. SSI is a complex problem affected by many factors. SSI reduction strategies are multimodal and take place in a number of environments under the supervision of a large number of providers. Ensuring a high level of compliance with these risk reduction strategies is crucial to the success of SSI mitigation efforts.

In different studies, in which multidisciplinary care packages aimed at preventing SSI were applied, significant reductions were achieved in the long term and the use and development of care packages was recommended. Packages can improve the quality of surgical care for patients by providing a harmonious environment and standardization, effectively reducing the risk of SSI. This improvement in the quality of care may increase the comfort level of patients.The concept of comfort in the nursing discipline is based on meeting the needs and is accepted as a part of quality care.

This study is planned to determine the effect of the SSI prevention package on SSI and patient comfort in patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 years and over
• undergoing sleeve gastrectomy surgery
• who volunteered to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• under 18 years old
• Surgeries other than sleeve gastrectomy
• not willing to participate in the study