An infection that occurs in a wound after a surgical operation is called a postoperative surgical wound infection. The site of infection may be limited to the suture line or may extend to the operative site. They occur in controlled hospital conditions and therefore we count them as nosocomial or intrahospital infections. They make up almost one third of hospital infections. Numerous authors have given their definitions of surgical site infection, and one of them reads: surgical site infection is an infection that occurred within 30 days of the operation, most often between the fifth and tenth day, that is, within a year of the placement of the prosthesis or implant. The incidence rate of SSI in developed countries ranges from 2.2% to 4.7%, and in underdeveloped countries the frequency of SSI is much higher, even up to 40%. SSI is a frequent complication of surgical treatment and causes postoperative morbidity and mortality that prolong treatment, create physical, psychological and aesthetic deformities and increase the cost of treatment by 10-20%. Many surgical wound infections originate from the patient himself, i.e. his endogenous flora. SSI can be caused by bacteria from the patient's environment or by exogenous bacteria. The nurse's fundamental intervention in the prevention of healthcare-related infections is monitoring in order to timely organize, apply and maintain an effective infection prevention and control program in healthcare institutions. As with other conditions, infectious diseases also require a holistic approach to treatment. All health and nonhealth care workers are responsible for the prevention of infections. The fundamental procedure in the prevention of healthcare-related infections is hand hygiene. In everyday practice, especially nowadays, nurses face numerous challenges in controlling and preventing healthcare-related infections. Prevention of surgical infections should be carried out during the perioperative period, that is, preoperatively, intraoperatively and postoperatively. It includes a number of measures related (directly and indirectly) to the preparation of the patient, the medical staff and the environment for the operation and recovery of the patient.