Introduction:

Surgical site infections can be prevented with the application of the best scientific evidence, which includes, as a key element, the education of health professionals.

Objective:

To assess the extent to which aspects related to the prevention of surgical site infections are included into the curricula of medical students and of general surgery residents, and the extent to which knowledge and skills are addressed by professors.

Methods:

Descriptive and cross-sectional study, which included documentary review of the training programs for students and residents. In addition, a questionnaire was applied to nine professors of the subject General Surgery from Joaquín Albarrán Clinical-Surgical Hospital and Manuel Fajardo Clinical-Surgical Hospital, in the period from May to June 2018.

Results:

In the General Surgery rotation and in the medical internship, the objective of preventing surgical site infections was made explicit, while less emphasis on the subject was made in the residence. Teaching hand hygiene, antibiotic prophylaxis, and notification of infections were a priority. Differences were observed among students and residents regarding the way they address topics, while the prevention practices chosen were not systematically addressed in both groups of learners. The skills required for the prevention of surgical site infections were systematically considered by the majority of professors.

Conclusions:

The existence of gaps in training curricula was shown, as well as regarding the development of knowledge and skills related to the prevention of surgical site infections in medical students and General Surgery residents.

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