Objective To analyze the trend of standardized infection ratio (SIR) of surgical site infection (SSI) in small bowel surgery, objectively evaluate the effect of infection control, and provide evidence-based strategies for SSI prevention. Methods According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) surveillance definitions for specific types of infections and the monitoring methods of SSI events published by NHSN, the SSI and related risk factors of adult inpatients undergoing small bowel surgery in Yichang Central People’s Hospital between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2022 were prospectively monitored. The inpatients undergoing small bowel surgery that meets the definition of International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision Clinical Modifications/Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-CM/PCS), a multivariate binary logistic regression model was used to calculate the predicted infections in each year, the model included the risk factors for small bowel surgery in NHSN Complex Admission/Readmission (A/R) SSI Model with 7 years of surveillance data as the baseline. The SIR was calculated by dividing the number of observed SSI by the number of predicted SSI in each year. The Mid-P method was used to test the difference of SIR compared to the previous year, and the linear regression model was used to analyze the trend of SIR. Results A total of 2 436 patients were included, with 48 cases of deep incision infection and 49 cases of organ/cavity infection, and the overall incidence rate of infection was 4.0%. From 2016 to 2022, there were 151, 244, 222, 260, 320, 408, and 831 patients who underwent small bowel surgery, respectively. The Mid-P test showed that there was a significant difference in SIR from 2016 to 2019 (P<0.05), and there was an increase in 2018 compared with 2017. There was no significant difference in SIR compared to the previous year from 2019 to 2022 (P>0.05), and there was no significant difference in the trend of SIR of SSI (P=0.065). Conclusions From January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2022, advances have been made in SSI control practices of small bowel surgery in six consecutive years, except for 2018, but there was no annual downward trend from 2020 to 2022. The use of SIR provides a new approach for evaluating the quality of infection control.