Surgery Is in Itself a Risk Factor for the Patient

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 19; no. 8; p. 4761
• Main Authors: Aranaz-Ostáriz, Verónica, María Teresa Gea-Velázquez De Castro, López-Rodríguez-Arias, Francisco, Diego San José-Saras, Vicente-Guijarro, Jorge, Pardo-Hernández, Alberto, Aranaz-Andrés, Jesús María, Tchounwou, Paul B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14.04.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Cardiovascular disease; Catheters; Comorbidity; Cross Infection - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Gender; Hospitals; Humans; Length of Stay; Medical Errors; Multivariate analysis; Patient safety; Patients; Quality of care; Retrospective Studies; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Surgery; Working conditions; medical errors; patient safety; adverse events; clinical safety; quality of care; surgical intervention
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19084761

(1) Background: Adverse events (AE) affect about 1 in 10 hospitalised patients, and almost half are related to surgical care. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of AE in operated and non-operated patients in surgical departments in order to determine whether surgical treatment is a risk factor for AE. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional design that included 3123 patients of 34 public hospitals in the Community of Madrid determining the prevalence of AEs in operated and non-operated patients in surgical departments. (3) Results: The prevalence of AE in non-operated patients was 8.7% and in those operated was 15.8%. The frequency of AE was higher in emergency surgery (20.6% vs. 12.4%). The 48.3% of AEs led to an increase in hospital stay, and surgery was involved in 92.4% of cases. The most frequent AEs were related to hospital-acquired infection (42.63%), followed by those related to a procedure (37.72%). In the multivariate analysis, being operated on represented 2.3 times the risk of developing an AE. (4) Conclusions: Surgical sites are particularly vulnerable to AE. Surgical intervention alone is a risk factor for AE, and we must continue to work to improve the safety of both patient care and the working environment of surgical professionals.