[Implementation of a clinical pathway for transurethral resection in benign prostatic hyperplasia]

Clinical pathways constitute a powerful tool for reducing the variability that occurs in clinical practice. The results obtained with the use of a clinical pathway for patients undergoing transurethral resection for benign hyperplasia of the prostate (BPH) are presented.

A prospective study was carried out on a cohort of 80 consecutive patients that had undergone transurethral resection for BPH after the application of a clinical pathway (5 days hospitalization) and compared with the results of a historical cohort of 80 consecutive patients that had been treated before the application of the clinical pathway. The exclusion criteria were diabetes mellitus, anticoagulation therapy with dicoumarin and other pathologies that changed the length of the preoperative stay established in the clinical pathway. For the evaluation of the degree of satisfaction, patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire included in the pathway documents.

73 patients met the inclusion criteria of the clinical pathway. 67 of the 80 patients that underwent surgery before the application of the clinical pathway were valid for comparative analysis. No statistically significant differences were found between both groups for age, prostate volume measured by DRE and US, previous treatment for prostatism, anesthetic risk and weight of the resected specimen. With the application of the pathway, the mean duration of hospital stay was reduced from 6 (SD 1.7; range 4-15) to 4.9 (SD 1.4; range 3-13) days (p < 0.0001) and the duration of urethral catheterization from 4.5 (SD 1.4; range 3-13) to 3.8 (SD 1.3; range 2-11) days (p < 0.01). Statistically significant differences were found before and after the application of the clinical pathway for degree of compliance of the preestablished antimicrobial prophylaxis guidelines during hospitalisation and after discharge, and thromboembolic prophylaxis. The relative risk of complications after discharge was less after the application of the clinical pathway (RR = 0.66), although it was not statistically significant (CI: 0.41-1.05). 63 of the 73 patients included in the clinical pathway submitted the questionnaire without identifying themselves. Duration of hospitalization was considered adequate by 89%, and coincided with the programmed and actual duration according to 82.5%.

The application of a clinical pathway for patients undergoing transurethral resection for BPH has reduced costs by reducing the length of hospital stay and adverse effects. Furthermore, reducing the variability of medical care has improved its quality.