CDC Wound Classification

When it activates

Scribeable activates a calculator from the encounter. The CDC Wound Classification can activate when the transcript or pasted chart context documents any of these:

• Operative note documentation
• Surgical site infection risk assessment
• Antibiotic prophylaxis decision
• Wound classification for surgical case
• Post-operative infection risk

Note-type scope: it activates on notes whose subject resolves to perioperative, hospital medicine. A note that resolves to another subject does not carry it even when the clinician's specialty matches; a note with no resolvable subject (a generic consultation) falls back to the specialty match.

Inputs the note needs

1 input. Each is resolved from the transcript, the pasted chart context and charted labs; at this calculator’s tier a missing input is never requested, and a missing required input keeps the score out of the draft.

Scoring

Class I (Clean): Uninfected, no inflammation, no GI/GU/respiratory tract entry. Class II (Clean-Contaminated): Controlled entry into GI/GU/respiratory tract. Class III (Contaminated): Open/fresh wounds, major sterile break, gross GI spillage. Class IV (Dirty-Infected): Old traumatic wounds, existing infection, perforated viscera.

Interpretation

Class I: SSI ~1-2%. Class II: SSI ~3-5%, single-dose prophylaxis. Class III: SSI ~5-10%, prophylactic antibiotics indicated. Class IV: SSI ~10-40%, therapeutic antibiotics required.

Evidence

Sources carried in Scribeable's citation registry for this calculator; guideline version: CDC/NHSN.

• CDC/NHSN Surgical Wound Classification (Clean, Clean-Contaminated, Contaminated, Dirty/Infected)CDC Wound Classification · 1999 · CDC/NHSN · Consensus · link last verified 2026-03-28

How Scribeable handles it in the note

When an encounter activates the CDC Wound Classification (its highest tier is recommended), Scribeable does not ask you for missing inputs. The score is computed in code from whatever inputs resolve from the transcript, the pasted chart context or charted labs; a computed value is written into the draft only when every required input already resolves.

The score is computed in code from the resolved inputs, not recalled by the language model. A stated CDC Wound Classification value is compared against the computed one when the draft's structured summary carries it; a disagreement found there is flagged to the second drafting pass, which is instructed to correct the score and its interpretation, unless Scribeable has supplied the computed value to that pass, in which case the value the draft writes is checked against the supplied one and a detected difference is shown beside the note for you to adjudicate rather than silently rewritten.

Classified as a staging or classification system: activated strictly, because a wrong stage on the wrong patient is a documentation hazard.

Related calculators

• Clavien-Dindo ClassificationStandardizes reporting and grading of post-operative complications by severity
• ASA Physical Status ClassificationClassifies patient physical status prior to anesthesia to stratify perioperative risk and guide anesthetic planning
• Caprini VTE Risk ScoreStratifies VTE risk in surgical patients for prophylaxis decisions
• LRINEC ScoreDistinguishes necrotizing fasciitis from other severe soft tissue infections to guide early surgical intervention
• ACS NSQIP Surgical Risk CalculatorEstimates postoperative complications for general and vascular surgery using the ACS NSQIP model. Requires dedicated calculator.
• Apfel Score for PONVPredicts risk of postoperative nausea and vomiting to guide prophylactic antiemetic use

Can activate in: Surgery, Orthopedics, OB/GYN, Urology, Neurosurgery.