An audit of postoperative minor complications of anesthesia

F. A. Khan, M. A. Rauf

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objective: To look at minor complications attributable to anesthesia in adult surgical patients at our Institution and to identify various contributing factors. Design: Descriptive cross sectional audit. Setting: Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Study participants: Seven hundred and thirty surgical patients undergoing elective surgery were recruited. Interventions: This was a non-interventional study and data was collected prospectively based on predefined criteria. Main outcome measures: The incidence of nausea, vomiting, sore throat, headache, drowsiness, phlebitis, dizziness, myalgia, transient nerve palsy, conjunctivitis, ringing of ears, low backache, lip injury, dental injury or any other minor complications were looked at. Results: Nausea, sore throat and vomiting were the highest reported complications. The incidence of nausea, drowsiness and dizziness was less in patients more than sixty years of age. Incidence of nausea and vomiting was higher in ASA 1 patients and in surgery lasting less than ninety minutes. Headache and dizziness were reported high in certain surgical specialties. Conclusion: The overall rate of minor complications following anesthesia was 12.6%. No complications were reported by 30% of the study population. The data has given us a benchmark for patient information and will be used for risk reduction in our Department of Anaesthesiology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)651-664
Number of pages14
JournalMiddle East Journal of Anesthesiology
Volume18
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Anesthesia
  • Clinical Audit
  • Complications

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'An audit of postoperative minor complications of anesthesia'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this