Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 14;19(8):4761.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19084761.

Surgery Is in Itself a Risk Factor for the Patient

Verónica Aranaz-Ostáriz  1 , María Teresa Gea-Velázquez De Castro  2 , Francisco López-Rodríguez-Arias  1 , Diego San José-Saras  3   4 , Jorge Vicente-Guijarro  3 , Alberto Pardo-Hernández  5   6 , Jesús María Aranaz-Andrés  3   7 , On Behalf Of The Eshmad Director Group And External Advisers
Affiliations

Surgery Is in Itself a Risk Factor for the Patient

Verónica Aranaz-Ostáriz et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

(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.

Keywords: adverse events; clinical safety; medical errors; patient safety; quality of care; surgical intervention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None of the authors declare to have any competing interests. All authors declare authorship of the following manuscript and of the consent of competing interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of AE in patients seen in surgical services.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chantler C. The role and education of doctors in the delivery of health care. Lancet. 1999;353:1178–1181. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(99)01075-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. WHO Patient Safety & World Health Organization . World Health Organization; 2009. [(accessed on 7 January 2022)]. WHO Guidelines for Safe Surgery 2009: Safe Surgery Saves Lives. Available online: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/44185. - PubMed
    1. WHO Patient Safety & World Health Organization WHO Surgical Safety Checklist Implementation. 2009. [(accessed on 7 January 2022)]. Available online: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/44186/9789241598590_eng....
    1. Aranaz-Andrés J.M., Aibar-Remón C., Vitaller-Murillo J., Ruiz-López P., Limón-Ramírez R., Terol-García E., ENEAS Work Group Incidence of adverse events related to health care in Spain: Results of the Spanish National Study of Adverse Events. J. Epidemiol. Community Health. 2008;62:1022–1029. doi: 10.1136/jech.2007.065227. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vincent C., Neale G., Woloshynowych M. Adverse events in British hospitals: Preliminary retrospective record review. BMJ. 2001;322:517–519. doi: 10.1136/bmj.322.7285.517. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources