Postoperative complications in the first 24 hours: a general surgery audit

Abstract

<h4>Background</h4>Traditionally, the purpose of routine postoperative surveillance has been to detect postoperative complications. The literature reports well-documented, procedure-specific postoperative complication rates. However, there are no reports detailing the prevalence of postoperative complications in general surgical ward settings, where nurses care for patients following a variety of surgical procedures.<h4>Aims</h4>This paper reports an audit of the frequency and type of postoperative complications in a general surgical population occurring in the first 24 hours postoperatively.<h4>Method</h4>A patient record audit was undertaken for all postoperative patients who returned to two general surgical wards. This was conducted sequentially, involving a 4 week data collection phase in each participating ward during 2001.<h4>Results</h4>The audit sample comprised 144 patient records with an average patient age of 54 years. Statistically significant results included the rate of postoperative nausea and vomiting of 37.5% (n = 54), and 17% (n = 25) of patients experiencing another 'clinical event'.<h4>Limitations</h4>The findings reflect only those complications recorded/documented in postoperative patients' records, and cannot be generalized beyond the sample and setting.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Postoperative patients cared for on general surgical wards experienced a high level of nausea and vomiting, while the occurrence of life-threatening complications was small.