[Databases for surgical specialists in Cancún, Quintana Roo]

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Surgical Practice Management
• Health Information Systems

Background:

• Accurate surgical record-keeping is essential for patient care and institutional data integrity.
• Understanding specialists' current practices informs strategies for improving data collection.
• The study focuses on surgical specialists in Cancún, Mexico, evaluating their use of personal productivity databases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the level of knowledge regarding personal productivity databases among surgical specialists in Cancún.
• To identify current practices in surgical record-keeping and data management.
• To determine specialists' interest in improving their record-keeping methods.

Main Methods:

• A survey was conducted among 37 surgical specialists from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and the Mexican Health Secretariat (SSA).
• Data collection focused on familiarity with institutional surgical registries and personal record-keeping habits.
• Physicians' methods of record-keeping (manual vs. computer) were documented.

Main Results:

• 61% of specialists had some knowledge of institutional surgical registries.
• Only 43% maintained personal records of their activities, with 69% of those using manual methods and 44% using computers.
• A significant desire was expressed for a system to record surgeries performed by each specialist.

Conclusions:

• A notable percentage of surgical specialists lack adequate knowledge of personal databases for recording procedures, leading to data inaccuracies.
• There is a need to educate specialists on institutional records, database use, and correct terminology (CIE-9 & 10).
• Promoting a culture of record-keeping and database utilization from the early stages of surgical training is recommended.