Telephone Questionnaire Efficiently Diagnoses Surgical Site Infections in Low-Resource Settings

Telephone questionnaire effectively diagnoses surgical site infections after abdominal surgery in low- and middle-income countries. The questionnaire discriminated between patients with and without infections, displaying high accuracy and consistent performance across different income levels. Cut-off score of ≥4 showed good sensitivity and specificity. Findings suggest that a telephone questionnaire could replace in-person assessments for diagnosing surgical site infections, offering a convenient alternative for patients in low resource settings.