title: [A standard questionnaire to reduce the routine battery of preoperative tests for elective surgery].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Preoperative medical testing in the United States is estimated at $3,000,000 USD per year. In an attempt to reduce this cost, some key points have been described with the purpose of promoting appropriate preoperative measurements with an adequate costObjective: To evaluate the utility of a preoperative standardized questionnaire in adult patients prior to elective surgery to detect which patients could be operated without laboratory testing.
  
  
  METHODS
  An observational, prospective and analytic study was carried out. The questionnaire has been applied to 176 patients, all adults scheduled for elective surgery from April 2011 to March 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 57.4% females and 42.6% males. Ages varied between 18 and 85 years old, with a median of 46 years; 40.3% of the patients were > 50 years old and 59.7% were < 50 years old. The negative predictive value of the questionnaire is 95.88% (CI 95.34-96.42%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This questionnaire is a useful instrument to determinate the necessity of preoperative laboratory testing in young, clinical healthy and elective surgery patients in a general hospital.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía General del Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea González, México, DF, Mexico. dratorresruiz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: María Fernanda
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Torres-Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía General del Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea González, México, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Luis Eduardo
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Cárdenas-Lailson
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía General del Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea González, México, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Martha Esthela
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Quiróz-Villegas
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía General del Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea González, México, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bravo-León
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D017046:Cost Savings; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019564:Unnecessary Procedures / Q000191:economics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Preoperative test; cirugía electiva; cuestionario; elective surgery; estandarizado; estudios preoperatorios; questionnaire; standardization