Safety and Efficiency in a Canadian Outpatient Gynaecological Surgical Centre

This study sought to describe safety and efficiency outcomes for patients undergoing procedures at the Women's Health Centre, an outpatient gynaecological surgical centre in Saskatoon, SK.

A retrospective chart review of surgical outpatient health records was conducted for the period of July 2014 to June 2015. Data were abstracted using a standardized data form for patient admissions during the study period. Primary outcomes of interest included procedure time, lead time (registration to discharge), complication rates, readmission rates, and reoperation rates. Descriptive statistics were calculated using Microsoft Excel and were summarized using frequencies and percentages. The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed for lead time and procedural time by using IBM SPSS Statistics 24 software (IBM, Armonk, NY).

During the study period, 1720 patients were seen by 21 providers. The mean number of patients seen per month was 144. The main services provided include hysteroscopic sterilization, non-resectoscopic endometrial ablation, loop electrosurgical excision procedure, hysteroscopy, and therapeutic abortion. Pain management was administered by local anaesthetic and/or conscious sedation. The mean procedure time was 10 ± 6 minutes, whereas the lead time was 171 ± 43 minutes. Immediate complications occurred in 3.9% of patients, the most common being vaginal bleeding (1.3%). The long-term complication rate was 5.1%, with the most common complication being reoperation in the main operating room, at 2.9%.

Currently, many gynaecological procedures in Canada occur in a formal operating theatre setting. Our study demonstrates the safety and efficiency of an alternate setting where gynaecological procedures are performed on an outpatient basis by using local anaesthetic and conscious sedation.