TOPLINE

Nurse practitioner (NP)-led ward rounds were associated with reduced overall incidence of surgical site infections, shortened length of hospital stay, and lower healthcare costs, according to a retrospective analysis.

METHODOLOGY

• A researcher conducted a retrospective cohort study, analyzing 4208 patients who underwent elective gastrointestinal surgery at an acute care hospital between January 2019 and May 2025.
• Patients were divided into the non-NP group (January 2019 to December 2022; n = 2796; mean age, 63.85 years), which received standard physician-led rounds, and the NP group (January 2023 to May 2025; n = 1412; mean age, 64.71 years), in which a surgical specialist NP led comprehensive daily rounds in collaboration with ward nurses.
• Primary outcome was the incidence of surgical site infections. Economic impact was also evaluated.

TAKEAWAY

• The NP group had a lower rate of overall incidence of surgical site infections than the non-NP group (odds ratio [OR], 0.55; P < .001).
• The rate of superficial incisional surgical site infections decreased from 3.30% to 1.20% (OR, 0.36; P < .001) and that of deep incisional surgical site infections decreased from 2.20% to 1.00% (OR, 0.45; P = .01) in the NP group.
• The NP group had a shorter mean length of hospital stay (14.0 days vs 20.4 days; incidence rate ratio, 0.723; P = .001) than the non-NP group.
• The estimated annual reduction in healthcare costs due to the NP-led intervention was $274,013.16.

IN PRACTICE

“These results provide strong implications for nursing administrators and policymakers to actively promote the deployment and expanded roles of NPs in perioperative settings, aiming for SSI [surgical site infection] prevention, improved quality of care, and enhanced health care economic efficiency,” the author wrote.

SOURCE

The study was authored by Yasutaka Kusanagi, General and Gastroenterological Surgery, Tokyo Saiseikai Central Hospital, Minato-ku, Japan. It was published online in May 2026 in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

LIMITATIONS

The study limitations included a retrospective single-center design and residual confounding. The economic evaluation used a unit cost from a specific Japanese study, leading to potential deviation from actual institutional costs. The single-center design limited the generalizability of the findings. The NP-led intervention did not show any significant effect on organ or space surgical site infections.

DISCLOSURES

No funding information was provided in the study. The author reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.