Summary:
Introduction: Re-admission of surgical patients following
discharge from a surgical care unit to the same or different
hospital is not uncommon. Underlying causes varied.
Majority of re-admission are unplanned. Postoperative
complications are mainly responsible for patients to seek
re-admission. Post operative complications are the mainly
liable for surgical re-admission.
Methods: A prospective study was performed in General
Surgical units of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka
for one year from August’2011 to July’2012. Amongst the
patients admitted in surgical units, all re-admitted patients
within the period had been studied. Purposive sampling
was done. Rate, cause, avoidability etc. were studied
according to criteria.
Results: Among 4396 admitted patients 294 (7%) had history
of previous admission in surgical department of different
hospitals. 65% patients were male and 70.07% were middle
aged (20-50yr). 67% re-admisssion occurred through
emergency department of which 67.7% were unplanned.
58% re-admission were avoidable. Diagnosis at readmission
contains quite a long list but notables were loop
ileostomy (23.47%), enterocutaneous fistula (10.54%),
incisional hernia (9.52%), mature colostomy (8.84%), wound
infection (8.5%) and subacute intestinal obstruction (4.76%).
Conclusion: Re-admission can be a contributing factor to
assess quality and performance. It should be focused in
audit and practice.
(J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2019; 37: 54-59)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/jbcps.v37i2.40560