[Evaluation of a clinical pathway of the inguinal hernia repair in a general surgery service].
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this work is to assess the level of implementation of an inguinal hernia clinical pathway and its impact on the patient satisfaction.


METHODS
An inguinal hernia repair clinical pathway was introduced in our service in January 2008. We studied all patients included in the clinical pathway since its introduction. The evaluation variables included: level of implementation, indicators of effectiveness in clinical care, and indicators of satisfaction based on a questionnaire.


RESULTS
During the first year of introducing the clinical pathway we operated on 582 patients for hernia repair. We excluded 85 cases (14.6%) from the study, due to not fulfilling the inclusion criteria. The study was finally conducted with 497 patients, 49 (9.8%) women and 448 (90.2%) men. The mean age of these patients was 56.6 (21-88) years old. A right hernia repair was performed on 273 cases (54.3%) and 224 (45.7% on the left hernia. In 473 (95.2%) it was a primary hernia and a recurrence in 24 (4.8%). In 441(88.7%) it was a unilateral hernia and 56 (11.3%) a bilateral hernia. The mean length of hospital stay was 1.1 (1-119) days. The level of compliance with length of hospital stay was 96.8%. The level of compliance with surgical prevention was 87.7%. Level of document management by the nursing staff was 86.5% and for doctors it was 80,7%. Overall morbidity was 6%. The informed consent was correctly executed in 97,8% of the cases and 98.6% of patients were given a final report on the day of leaving hospital. A total of 369 satisfaction questionnaires were collected, which was a response rate of 74.2%. Almost all (96%) patients were satisfied with the received information, 87.6% said their pain was managed correctly, and 81% found stay appropriate, and 95% said their hospital stay was between acceptable and good. The level of satisfaction with the care received was 97.5%, and 97.4% of the patients studied would recommend the hospital to a friend or family.


CONCLUSIONS
The introduction of a clinical pathway for inguinal hernia repair has led to a good integration, the services involved in the same. Patients have expressed a high level of satisfaction with the service received, but there are aspects that we must improve: in the information and communication with the patient, the action protocols, evaluation criteria, the VC ¿clinical pathway? Registers, and the satisfaction survey model.
Carvajal-Balaguera
J
J
Servicio de Cirugía General y Digestiva, Hospital Central de la Cruz Roja San José y Santa Adela de Madrid, Madrid, España. josuecarvajal@yahoo.es
González-Solana
I
I
Máquez-Asencio
M
M
Hernández-Lorca
I
I
Martín-García-Almenta
M
M
Cerquella-Hernández
C M
CM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019091:Critical Pathways / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D055815:Young Adult