[Anesthesia for diagnostic and nonsurgical procedures in Catalonia, Spain, in 2003].
OBJECTIVE
This arm of the ANESCAT survey sought to characterize and quantify nonsurgical anesthesia practice in Catalonia, Spain.


METHODS
Information about anesthesia for nonsurgical procedures in 131 Catalan hospitals was gathered prospectively on 14 days in 2003. We analyzed patient characteristics, anesthetic techniques, procedures, duration, interventional context for the anesthetic procedure, type of hospital, and geographic distribution.


RESULTS
Nonsurgical anesthesia accounted for 10.4% of all acts. Endoscopy of the digestive tract accounted for 70.4% of all nonsurgical procedures, electroconvulsive treatment for 11.7%, radiology for 11.5%, and electrical cardioversion for 1.5%. Anesthesia was provided outside an operating room in 73.7% of the cases. Most procedures were scheduled to be performed in outpatients under sedation or general anesthesia. The most commonly performed digestive tract endoscopic examinations were colonoscopy and gastroscopy, and most took place in private hospitals.


CONCLUSIONS
Over 10% of anesthesia practice is for nonsurgical procedures and digestive tract endoscopy accounts for the largest proportion of such practice. As the trend is for such procedures to increase in number, their frequency should be studied so that organization and training can be planned.
Roigé
Jaume
J
Servicio de Anestesiología y Reanimación, Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, Passeig Vall d’Hebron 119-129, Barcelona, Spain. 21094jrs@comb.es
Sabaté
Sergi
S
Villalonga
Antonio
A
Canet
Jaume
J
Escolano
Fernando
F
Pacheco
Mauricio
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D019937:Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006748:Hospital Departments / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013030:Spain; D013812:Therapeutics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data