Surgery Is in Itself a Risk Factor for the Patient.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare research
• Patient safety
• Surgical outcomes

Background:

• Adverse events (AE) impact approximately 10% of hospitalized patients, with nearly half linked to surgical care.
• Understanding the prevalence of AE in surgical versus non-surgical patients is crucial for risk assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of adverse events (AE) in operated and non-operated patients within surgical departments.
• To evaluate whether surgical treatment is an independent risk factor for developing adverse events.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 3123 patients across 34 public hospitals in the Community of Madrid.
• Comparison of AE prevalence between operated and non-operated patients in surgical departments.

Main Results:

• The prevalence of AE was 15.8% in operated patients versus 8.7% in non-operated patients.
• Emergency surgery showed a higher AE rate (20.6%) compared to non-emergency procedures (12.4%).
• Multivariate analysis indicated that being operated on increased the risk of AE by 2.3 times.

Conclusions:

• Surgical sites are highly susceptible to adverse events.
• Surgical intervention is confirmed as a significant risk factor for AE.
• Continuous efforts are necessary to improve patient safety and the surgical professional's working environment.