Colonoscopy quality assessment.

AIM: Colonoscopy has become accepted as the most effective method for colon exploration. Some application problems have been detected in the setting of normal clinical care due to its wide range of uses in recent years, and therefore there is a need to measure colonoscopy quality. For that purpose valid quality indicators are necessary to be defined. The application process of some quality indicators is presented in this study. The proposed indicators in this study are: quality of bowel preparation, cecal intubation rate, withdrawal time, adenoma detection rate, and adenoma removal rate. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This is a prospective 12-month study where colonoscopies performed in the VI health area of Murcia Region were evaluated. From February 2006 to February 2007 a total of 609 subjects were eligible for colonoscopy after a positive fecal blood test in the setting of a colorectal cancer screening program. A sample of thirty patients (n: 30) was considered representative to assess the reliability of quality indicators and for a preliminary analysis of results. RESULTS: Indicators results are: quality of bowel preparation (87%), kappa 0.74 (95% CI: 0.48-0.99); cecal intubation rate (90%) 0.74 (95% CI: 0.49-0.99); adenoma detection and removal rate (96%), kappa: 0.78 (95% CI: 0.53-0.99); withdrawal time: 13.36 min (95% CI: 10.48-16.11). Kappa: 0.78 (95% CI: 0.49-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Quality indicators definition and application in colonoscopy performance is possible. More studies are necessary to define the role of these indicators in the setting of clinical practice.

[Alcohol consumption among 7th grade students of EGB]. / Consumo de alcohol entre escolares de séptimo de EGB.

OBJECTIVES: To identify habits of alcohol consumption among school-children and analyse their ways of thinking about the question. DESIGN: A descriptive study of observation, using a crossover method, and carried out by means of a self-administered questionnaire. SETTING: Those EGB schools within the Molina de Segura (Murcia) Health Area which accepted the questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS: The 534 7th-year EGB students who attended class on the day of the field work. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: We used the questionnaire elaborated by Torres Hernández to collect the data and that by Eysenck and Eysenck (EPI type A) to evaluate the replies' reliability. We analysed 478 of the 534 questionnaires which exceeded level 4 of the sincerity scale. We found that 83.3% had tried alcohol on some occasion, 2.5% drank it daily, 14.2% had consumed alcohol before the age of 10 and 19.5% had got drunk on some occasion. Cider and beer were the drinks preferred. We found no significant differences for gender. 91.6% thought that alcohol damaged health, 83.7% that it affected studies and 94.1% sport. 10.7% thought that it did not create dependence. CONCLUSIONS: We underline the high percentage of alcohol consumption in young people and their early starting-age, as well as the change in the patterns of traditional female behaviour in relation to alcohol consumption. We emphasise the need for Health Education among schoolchildren.

[Minor surgery in primary care: is continuing education within the team a valid strategy for improving quality?]. / Cirugía menor en atención primaria: es válida la formación continuada intraequipo como estrategia de mejora de calidad?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of continuing education within the team (FCI, in Spanish) on the quality of minor surgery. DESIGN: Study of level of quality. SETTING. Primary care. PARTICIPANTS: First evaluation: all the lesions referred for biopsy during 1998 (62 samples). Second evaluation: those referred in 1999-2000 (150). MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Four explicit criteria regulating procedure and result were designed: C1, sufficient information; C2, correct referral; C3, correct extirpation of lesion; C4, clinical-pathological concordance. Request forms and anatomical-pathological reports were assessed. Evaluation was before and after corrective measures (FCI and organisational changes designed to support FCI). The Kappa index of inter-observer concordance, the Compliance Index and Fisher's Z index were analysed. RESULTS: 62 lesions were included in the first evaluation, with high reliability for C1 and C4, good for C2 and moderate for C3. 150 lesions were included in the second evaluation. The compliance indices showed statistically significant increases from the first to the second evaluation for C1 (38.09% and 50.66%, relative improvement of 19%) and C4 (68.85% and 85.2%, relative improvement of 53%). C2 showed an improvement, but without statistical significance (87.30% and 92.66%). The compliance index for C3 dropped (94.73% and 87.50%). 5.33% of cases in the second evaluation (8 biopsies) were malignant or pre-malignant lesions, compared with 20.96% in the first (P<.05). 100% of these latter showed free resection limits. 77.99% of lesions studied through a biopsy in the second evaluation were nevus, seborrhoeic keratosis or dermatofibroma. CONCLUSIONS: FCI is a valid strategy for improving the quality of programmes of minor surgery in primary care. There was significant improvement in the identification of malignant and pre-malignant pathology, in correct referral and in the clinical-pathological concordance of the lesions.

[Morbidity caused by industrial accidents in a health zone]. / Morbididad por accidentes de trabajo en una zona de salud.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study is to discover the morbidity produced by workplace accidents among the earning population of Molina de Segura Health Area. DESIGN: This was a descriptive crossover study. Site. The study was carried out in the Primary Care framework, in the Molina de Segura Health Area and with the collaboration of the Labour Health Unit of Insalud-Murcia. PATIENTS AND OTHERS PARTICIPANTS: Over a year a total of 774 cases of time off work due to workplace accidents, out of a total of 9,302 workers, were examined. 679 cases of workers resident in Molina de Segura were included in the study, whose time-off dates fell between July 1, 1989 and June 30, 1990 and where the company for which they worked was based or had its trading name located in Molina. MAIN MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Of the total cases of time off work studied, 539 (79.4%) were men and 140 (20.6%) were women. The pathologies most often found were "blows, bruisings and crushings" (22.8%), "wounds and cuts" (16.8%), "back pain" (10.5%), "strains" (9.4%) and "fractures" (4.5%). A statistically significant association was found between being "a man" and "back pain"; and "a woman" and "sprains". CONCLUSIONS: The predominant pathologies among workplace accidents are of a less serious nature. Some pathologies owing to workplace accidents are mistakenly referred to the health services as ordinary illness. There is insufficient compliance by health professionals with filling in the forms for time off work and return to work.

Valoración de la calidad en la práctica de la colonoscopia / Colonoscopy quality assessment

Objetivo: la colonoscopia constituye la técnica exploratoria del colon más importante en la actualidad. Su uso, cada vez más frecuente conlleva la aparición de problemas en su aplicación. Es necesario medir la calidad en la realización de esta técnica, para ello es preciso definir indicadores válidos que permitan la realización de ciclos de evaluación de la calidad. En este estudio se presenta la aplicación de algunos de estos indicadores. Los indicadores propuestos en este estudio son: nivel de limpieza, intubación cecal, indicador de pólipos y tiempo de retirada. Pacientes y método: estudio prospectivo de 12 meses de las colonoscopias realizadas en un programa de cribado de cáncer colorrectal en el área de salud VI de la Región de Murcia. En este estudio se incluyen todos los pacientes con resultado positivo al test de sangre oculta en heces (SOH) desde febrero de 2006 a febrero de 2007 (n: 609). Se extrae una muestra de 30 pacientes para evaluar la fiabilidad de los indicadores y realizar un análisis preliminar de los resultados. Resultados: los resultados preliminares obtenidos de cumplimiento para cada indicador fueron los siguientes: indicador de nivel de limpieza (87%). Índice de kappa 0,74 (IC del 95%: 0,48-0,99); intubación cecal (90%) 0,74 (IC del 95%: 0,49-0,99); indicador de pólipos (96%), índice de kappa de 0,78 (IC del 95%: 0,53-0,99); tiempo de retirada: 13,36 min (IC del 95%: 10,48-16,11). Índice kappa de 0,78 (IC del 95%: 0,49-0,99). Conclusiones: la definición y aplicación de indicadores de calidad en la práctica de la colonoscopia es posible. Se precisan más estudios para definir el papel de estos indicadores en la práctica asistencial(AU)

Aim: colonoscopy has become accepted as the most effective method for colon exploration. Some application problems have been detected in the setting of normal clinical care due to its wide range of uses in recent years, and therefore there is a need to measure colonoscopy quality. For that purpose valid quality indicators are necessary to be defined. The application process of some quality indicators is presented in this study. The proposed indicators in this study are: quality of bowel preparation, cecal intubation rate, withdrawal time, adenoma detection rate, and adenoma removal rate. Material and method: this is a prospective 12-month study where colonoscopies performed in the VI health area of Murcia Region were evaluated. From February 2006 to February 2007 a total of 609 subjects were eligible for colonoscopy after a positive fecal blood test in the setting of a colorectal cancer screening program. A sample of thirty patients (n: 30) was considered representative to assess the reliability of quality indicators and for a preliminary analysis of results. Results: indicators results are: quality of bowel preparation (87%), kappa 0.74 (95% CI: 0.48-0.99); cecal intubation rate (90%) 0.74 (95% CI: 0.49-0.99); adenoma detection and removal rate (96%), kappa: 0.78 (95% CI: 0.53-0.99); withdrawal time: 13.36 min (95% CI: 10.48-16.11). Kappa: 0.78 (95% CI: 0.49-0.99). Conclusions: quality indicators definition and application in colonoscopy performance is possible. More studies are necessary to define the role of these indicators in the setting of clinical practice(AU)

Los costes de un programa de cirugía menor durante un añoen un centro de Atención Primaria de Salud / The costs of a program of minor surgery during one year in a Primary Health Care centre

Fundamentos: existen varios estudios sobre experiencias y efectividad de programas de cirugía menor (CM) en Atención Primaria (AP) pero hay mucho desconocimiento acerca de los costes de estas actividades para poder establecer comparaciones entre los diferentes niveles asistenciales y áreas geográficas. Objetivo: medir los costes de un año de práctica de CM en un centro de AP.Diseño: estudio de evaluación económica, descriptivo, retrospectivo. Material y métodos: se desarrolló en AP sobre 479 pacientes tratados con diferentes procedimientos de CM desde enero a diciembre de 1998. Se incluyeron pacientes con patologías dérmicas y de uña que recibieron procedimientos quirúrgicos programados. Se excluyeron aquéllos con lesiones dérmicas que necesitaron tratamiento inmediato, sospecha de lesión maligna, queloides previos, riesgo de lesión neurológica, alergia a anestésicos locales, tratamiento anticoagulante. Medimos por separado costes de crioterapia y costes de otros procedimientos de CM. Resultados: fueron evaluadas 336 sesiones de criocirugía en 267 pacientes con un coste total anual de 589.857 ptas. (3.545,11). El coste medio por procedimiento fue 1.755 ptas. (10,55). El coste medio por paciente fue 2.209 ptas. (13,28).También fueron evaluadas 212 sesiones de otros procedimientos de CM en 212 pacientes con un coste total anual de 1.627.228 ptas. (9.779,8). El coste medio por paciente y procedimiento fue 7.676 ptas. (46,13).Conclusiones: la falta de estudios de costes sobre CM en especializada en nuestra región impide comparar nuestros resultados. Aunque en nuestra opinión, los programas de CM en AP muestran un bajo coste, se precisa utilizar metodologías estandarizadas de evaluación económica para poder comparar resultados tanto en AP como especializada. (AU)

Cirugía menor en atención primaria: ¿es válida la formación continuada intraequipo como estrategia de mejora de calidad? / Minor surgery in primary care: is continuing education within the team a valid strategy for improving quality?

Objetivo. Evaluar el impacto de la formación continuada intraequipo (FCI) en la calidad de la cirugía menor (CM).Diseño. Estudio de nivel de calidad. Emplazamiento. Atención primaria. Participantes. Primera evaluación: todas las lesiones remitidas para biopsia durante 1998 (62 muestras). Segunda evaluación: las remitidas durante 1999-2000 (150).Mediciones principales. Se diseñaron 4 criterios explícitos y normativos de proceso y resultado: C1: información suficiente; C2: remisión adecuada; C3: extirpación lesional correcta, y C4: concordancia clinicopatológica. Se evaluaron hojas de solicitud e informes anatomopatológicos. Evaluación antes y después de medidas correctoras (FCI y cambios organizativos diseñados para potenciarla). Se analizó el índice Kappa de concordancia interobservador, el índice de cumplimiento (IC) y la Z de Fisher. Resultados. En la primera evaluación se incluyeron 62 lesiones, con una fiabilidad alta para C1 y C4, buena para C2 y moderada para C3. En la segunda evaluación se incluyeron 150 lesiones. Entre la primera y la segunda evaluación, los índices de cumplimiento presentaron incrementos estadísticamente significativos para C1 (38,09 per cent y 50,66 per cent; mejora relativa del 19 per cent) y C4 (68,85 per cent y 85,2 per cent; mejora relativa del 53 per cent). C2 presentó mejoría estadísticamente no significativa (87,30 per cent y 92,66 per cent). El índice de cumplimiento de C3 presentó una disminución (94,73 per cent y 87,50 per cent). Un 5,33 per cent de casos en la segunda evaluación (8 biopsias) fueron lesiones malignas y premalignas respecto al 20,96 per cent de la primera (p < 0,05). El 100 per cent de estas últimas presentó límites de resección libres. Un 77,99 per cent de las lesiones biopsiadas en la segunda evaluación fueron nevus, queratosis seborreicas y dermatofibromas. Conclusiones. La FCI es una estrategia válida para mejorar la calidad de programas de CM en atención primaria, observándose mejora significativa en la discriminación de patología maligna y premaligna, en la correcta derivación y en la concordancia clinicopatológica de las lesiones (AU)