A simple tool to measure patient perceptions of operative birth.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility and validity of a maternal satisfaction measurement tool, the SaFE study Patient Perception Score (PPS), after operative delivery. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: A large maternity unit in England. SAMPLE: 150 women who had had an operative birth. METHODS: We recruited women within 24 hours of birth and quantified their satisfaction with two questionnaires: PPS, and the Mackey Childbirth Satisfaction Rating Scale (CSRS; modified). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participation rate to determine feasibility; Cronbach's alpha as measure of internal consistency; PPS satisfaction scores for groups of accoucheurs of different seniority to assess construct validity; correlation coefficient of PPS scores with total scores from the CSRS questionnaire to establish criterion validity. RESULTS: Participation rate approached 85%. We observed high scores for most births except a few outliers. Internal consistency of the PPS was high (Cronbach's alpha=0.83). Total PPS scores correlated strongly with total CSRS scores (Spearman's r=0.64, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The PPS is a simple and valid tool for patient-centred assessments. High scores were observed for most births but there were a small minority of accoucheurs who consistently scored poorly and these data could be used during appraisal and training.

Unexpected findings during thyroid surgery in a regional community hospital: a 5-year experience of 738 consecutive cases.

Unexpected findings during thyroid surgery in a nonuniversity setting have rarely been reported in large series. Our goal was to describe the unexpected findings during thyroid surgery in a busy regional community hospital. All thyroid operations conducted by the teaching staff at Greenville Memorial Hospital, a 735-bed nonuniversity regional hospital, from December 1998 through December 2003 were reviewed. Pre- and post-operative diagnoses, surgical procedure, and specimen histopathology were examined. Unexpected findings were defined as either thyroid pathology not anticipated based on preoperative diagnosis or as unsuspected nonthyroidal disease found during cervicotomy. During the 5-year study period, 738 patients presented with thyroid disease requiring surgery. Incidental thyroid cancer was discovered in 28 cases (3.8%), the predominance being papillary microcarcinoma. Synchronous benign thyroid disease, separate from the indication from surgery, was observed in 56 patients (7.6%). Forty patients had unexpected nodular goiter and 16 had lymphocytic thyroiditis. Primary hyperparathyroidism was observed in 33 patients (4.5%). Both solitary adenomas (22 cases) and multigland parathyroid disease (11 cases) were seen. Unexpected nonendocrine findings were less common, including solitary cases of large cell carcinoma, metastatic endometrial carcinoma, and tracheal duplication (bronchogenic cyst). In conclusion, unexpected findings during thyroid surgery at a busy community hospital are fairly common. Indeed, an unanticipated finding is encountered in one out of seven operations on the thyroid gland. Although most are of unclear clinical significance, there is a surprisingly high incidence of hyperparathyroidism. This underscores the need for preoperative screening, as the "thyroid patient" may also be the "parathyroid patient."