Orthopaedic surgical documentation: pre-templated operation notes significantly improve documentation of surgical procedures.

OBJECTIVES: The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS) Good Surgical Practice guidance identifies essential criteria for surgical operation note documentation. The current quality improvement project aims to identify if using pre-templated operation notes for documenting fractured neck of femur surgery results in improved documentation when compared to freehand orthopaedic operation notes. METHODS: A total of fourteen categories were identified from the RCS guidance as required across all the operations identified in this study. All operations for the month of October 2021 were identified and the operation notes analysed. Pre-templated operation notes were compared to freehand operation notes. RESULTS: Ninety-seven cases were identified, of which 74 were freehand operation notes and 23 were pre-templated fractured neck of femur operation notes. All fourteen categories were completed in 13 (57%) of the templated operation notes versus 0 (0%) in the freehand operation notes (odds ratio 0.0052, 95% CI 0.0003 to 0.0945, p < 0.001). The median total number of completed categories was significantly higher in the templated op-note group compared to the freehand op-note group (templated median 14, range 12-14, vs. freehand median 11, range 9 to 13, p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis of operation notes written by consultants or trainees identified trainees as more likely to document the antibiotic prophylaxis given (p = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: Use of pre-templated operation notes results in significantly improved documentation. Adoption of generic pre-templated operation notes to improve surgical documentation should be considered across all operations.

Prolonged Ileus after Colorectal Surgery, a Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: The development of prolonged post-operative ileus (POI) remains a significant problem in the general surgical patient population. The aetiology of ileus is poorly understood and management options/preventative measures are currently extremely limited. The pathophysiology leading to a post-operative ileus is relatively poorly understood, and there is no validated method to estimate ileus occurrence or duration. Ileus in the post-operative period commonly occurs following major colorectal surgery and leads to painful abdominal distension, vomiting, nutritional deficit, pneumonia, prolonged hospital stays and susceptibility to hospital-acquired infection. An increased hospital stay, the burden of treatment costs and the burden on the health system highlight the importance of future research on finding definitions, preventions and predictions of ileus. METHODS: A systematic literature review was performed to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the rate of ileus on various treatments for prolonged post-operative ileus following colorectal surgery. A confidence evaluation in a meta-analysis were performed using CINeMA. Direct and indirect comparisons of all interventions were simultaneously carried out using a network meta-analysis. The level of certainty was appraised using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) approach. The method of assessing the risk of bias, the quality assessment, used the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool (RoB2). RESULTS: Among the seven included studies, the majority suffered from considerable within-study bias, affecting the confidence rates of study findings. Heterogeneity and incoherence made the pairwise meta-analysis and ranking of interventions unfeasible. Indirect comparisons were considered unreliable due to this incoherence. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review, with a confidence evaluation in the network meta-analysis, determined that there is a knowledge gap in the field of study on prolonged ileus following digestive surgery. The current evidence suffers from heterogeneity and incoherence more than imprecision. There is a gap in the data on ileus occurrence in interventional trials for digestive surgery. This could inform clinicians and trialists to better appraise the current literature and plan future trials.