THE USE OF 8 INDICATORS TO MEASURE QUALITY IN AMBULATORY SURGERY

Budapest 6 Mayo 2013

A. Jiménez, J.A. Gracia, E. Redondo, B. Calvo, B. Jiménez, M. Martínez.

The aim of this study is to determine the evolution of quality in a multidisciplinary ambulatory surgery unit using 8 different clinical indicators during a period of 17 years.

METHODS: A total of 24035 patients were scheduled to be operated on from March 1995 to November 2012. The indicators monitored were: 1. Cancelled procedures. 2. Adverse events. 3. Wound infection. 4. Unplanned hospital admissions.  5. Hospital readmissions. 6. Ambulatorization index. 7. Substitution index. 8. Patient satisfaction index. Statistical analyses were performed using Stat-View 5.1.0 software.

CONCLUSIONS.

1. The monitored indicators show similar improvements to standards in Spain.

2. The cancellation of procedures would be reduced with a greater agility replacing patients, ring fencing the DSU from the interference of the rest of the surgical block and improving the pre-operative assessment of patients.

3. The overall morbidity would improve justo to reducing the porcentaje of urinary retention, 5.5 per cent, excessively high.

4. Unplanned hospital admission rates are acceptable and have remained steady along these years. Rates have not worsened by the inclusion of higher risk patients and procedures.

5. Indicators of efficiency of the DSU show a progressive improvement, but do not reach the average values published in Spain.

6. Patient satisfaction is high. This circumstance is common to the majority of the DSU.