Masood Jawaid, Muhammad Farhan Amin, Rehan Abbas Khan, Syed Abdullah Iqbal.
Waiting time for emergency surgeries in a Tertiary Care Public Hospital – A Performance Audit.
Pak J Med Sci Jan ;21(2):133-7.

Objective: To find out the waiting time for emergency surgeries and to identify causes responsible for this delay in a tertiary care public hospital. Settings: Surgical Unit IV, Civil Hospital, Karachi. Patients and Methods: Patients admitted through emergency for immediate emergency operations during the month of November and December, 2003 were included in the study. For data collection a proforma was made which included diagnosis, operation performed, time of planning immediate surgery, time of surgery, causes responsible for delay apart from demographic information. Main outcome measures: Waiting time for emergency surgeries, different causes responsible for the delay. Results: A total of 45 patients were enrolled in the audit study. Majority of patients 14 (31.1%) were suffering from acute appendicitis. 33 (73.3%) of patients had to wait for more than 3 hours before their emergency surgery. Major cause of this delay in 33.6% of patients was due to surgical team doctor`s inefficiency. In 7 (21.2%) patients surgery was delayed due to late night admission and in 6 (18.1%) due to non-availability of cross matched blood. In 5 (15.1%) patients surgery was delayed due to unavoidable causes like busy theatre and arrival of more serious patients. Conclusion: A substantial number of patients needing emergency surgery waited too long for the surgical management. Majority of delays were due to causes which can be addressed to improve the patients care.

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