A quality improvement cycle of the care process in a general surgery hospitalization ward.

Background: There could be important failures in clinical data and plan records that potentially influence the surgical care process.

Objective: To complete a quality of care improvement cycle on the surgical care process in the General Surgery ward rounds. Structured quality criteria were measured, in order to identify major deficiencies, to implement improvement measures and to reassess the quality of surgical care process.

Incidental versus non-incidental thyroid carcinoma: Clinical presentation, surgical management and prognosis.

Background And Objective: Thyroid cancer may be clinically evident as a tumor mass in the neck or as a histopathological incidental finding after thyroid surgery for an apparent benign condition. Our objective was to assess the differences in clinical signs, surgical management, and course between incidental and clinically diagnosed thyroid tumors.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on patients operated on for benign or malignant thyroid disease from January 2000 to March 2014.

Clinical Pathway for Thyroidectomy.

Clinical pathways are care plans applicable to patient care procedures that present variations in practice and a predictable clinical course. They are designed not as a substitute for clinical judgment, but rather as a means to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the procedures. This clinical pathway is the result of a collaborative work of the Sections of Endocrine Surgery and Quality Management of the Spanish Association of Surgeons.

Emergency endoscopy for gastrointestinal bleeding after bariatric surgery. Therapeutic algorithm.

Objective: Gastrointestinal bleeding (GB) is a potential complication after bariatric surgery and its frequency is around 2-4% according to the literature. The aim of this study is to present our experience with GB after bariatric surgery, its presentation and possible treatment options by means of an algorithm.

Patients And Method: From January 2004 to December 2012, we performed 300 consecutive laparoscopic bariatric surgeries.

[GRADE system: classification of quality of evidence and strength of recommendation].

The acquisition and classification of scientific evidence, and subsequent formulation of recommendations constitute the basis for the development of clinical practice guidelines. There are several systems for the classification of evidence and strength of recommendations; the most commonly used nowadays is the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation system (GRADE). The GRADE system initially classifies the evidence into high or low, coming from experimental or observational studies; subsequently and following a series of considerations, the evidence is classified into high, moderate, low or very low.

Reduction in inappropriate hospital use based on analysis of the causes.

Background: To reduce inappropriate admissions and stays with the application of an improvement cycle in patients admitted to a University Hospital. The secondary objective is to analyze the hospital cost saved by reducing inadequacy after the implementation of measures proposed by the group for improvement.

Methods: Pre- and post-analysis of a sample of clinical histories studied retrospectively, in which the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) was applied to a representative hospital sample of 1350 clinical histories in two phases.

Evaluation of a clinical pathway to improve colorectal cancer outcomes.

The aims of this preintervention and postintervention study were to monitor and evaluate the clinical pathway (CP) for colorectal cancer (CRC) over a 5-year period and to compare 2 groups of patients (before and after the intervention) with regard to different variables of effectiveness. Group I comprised 68 patients who underwent planned surgery between January 2002 and January 2003. Group II comprised a sample of 202 patients who underwent surgery between January 2004 and December 2008.

[Frozen section doesn't reduce the number of reoperations for cancer after hemithyroidectomy].

Unlabelled: FUNDAMENTALS AND OBJECTIVES: Frozen section (FS) constitutes a diagnostic procedure in patients following hemithyroidectomy. It is used to diagnose malignant lesions and to avoid reoperations. Our objective is to confirm this test as useless to rule out cancer.

[Computerised tomography in the diagnosis of intestinal and mesenteric injuries in closed abdominal trauma].

Background: The frequency of bowel and mesenteric injuries is increasing. They are difficult to diagnose and delays in their diagnosis leads to a significantly increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of the computed tomography (CT) in the detection of blunt bowel and mesenteric injuries.

Associated factors and cost of inappropriate hospital admissions and stays in a second-level hospital.

The objective of this study was to analyze the variables related to inappropriate admissions and hospital stays and their financial repercussions. This was a descriptive retrospective study in which the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) was applied to a representative sample of 725 hospital admissions and 1350 hospital stays. The cost of inappropriate stays was calculated by cost accounting.