title: Pre-operative investigations: yield and conformity to national guidelines.
abstract: Routine ordering of pre-operative investigations yields a low true positive rate and is not cost effective. In this study, case notes of 251 adults who underwent elective surgery were reviewed. Pre-operative investigations were classified as 'indicated' or 'not indicated', based on the national guidelines. Only 56% of all tests done were indicated. The overall rates of expected and unexpected abnormal values from pre-operative blood investigations were 51.1% and 34.4% respectively. This study found that selective testing based on guidelines was beneficial. However, the results also suggest that the local guidelines need to be reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Anaesthesiology Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Masjid, 50586, Kuala Lumpur.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Juliana
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inbasegaran
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies