Post-operative complications in a general surgical ward of a teaching hospital

ABSTRACT

To find out post-operative complications during hospital stay of patients in a general surgical ward at a tertiary care teaching hospital of Karachi. Descriptive retrospective analysis. Surgical Unit IV, Civil Hospital Karachi. Six months, from January 1, 2004 to June 30, 2004. The records of all patients who underwent surgery between January 2004 to June 2004 were reviewed regarding postoperative complications developed during hospital stay. The following data were collected age, sex, presentation at time of surgery [emergency or elective], surgery performed, complications during postoperative period and outcome. All data was analyzed with the help of SPSS-10. Surgery performed, post operative complications. A total of 501 patients were admitted during the study period. Total 411 surgeries were performed. 258 [62.8%] were elective and 153 [37.2%] were emergency procedures. Hernia repair was the most common surgery performed in 92 [22.4%] patients, followed by appendicectomy in 64 [15.6%] and cholecystectomy in 54 [13.2%] patients. Complications were documented in 122 [29.6%] patients. Most common complication observed was postoperative pyrexia in 75 [18.2%] patients, followed by postoperative nausea and vomiting [PONV] in 48 [11.6%], wound infection in 47 [11.4%], respiratory tract infection in 29 [7.0%] patients. During the study period 4 patients [0.9%] died in the postoperative period. This study revealed that the commonest postoperative complication was fever followed by PONV, wound infection and respiratory tract infection. It is important that the resident staff should be aware of these complications and how to manage them because these are better yardstick to measure the quality of care