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Day surgery: development of a national comparative audit service
N Black1, M Petticrew, D Hunter
1Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Quality in Health Care : QHC
|August 6, 1993
Summary
Software was developed for hospitals to analyze patient experience data from day surgery. A national audit service is feasible, but requires further methodological development for outcome comparisons.
Area of Science:
- Health services research
- Medical informatics
- Patient experience measurement
Background:
- Hospitals need tools to analyze patient experience data from day surgery.
- A national comparative audit service could improve quality of care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop software for hospitals to analyze day surgery patient experience data.
- To test the feasibility of a national comparative audit service for day surgery.
Main Methods:
- Software development and testing.
- Database analysis of survey data from 11 English hospitals.
- 1741 day surgery patients surveyed.
Main Results:
- Software successfully implemented in pilot hospitals.
- Overall patient satisfaction was high (around 85%), but specific aspects varied significantly.
- Significant inter-hospital variation in information provision, parking, and postoperative pain was observed.
- The proportion of procedures potentially suitable for outpatient settings varied widely between hospitals.
Conclusions:
- Establishing a national comparative audit database for day surgery patient experiences is feasible.
- Methodological challenges, particularly in case-mix adjustment, need to be addressed for robust outcome comparisons.