PROFILE OF EMERGENCY GENERAL SURGERY PATIENTS IN A SECONDARY PUBLIC HOSPITAL IN EASTERN TURKEY

Abstract

The consultation requests to the general surgery department are mostly from the emergency department. In the present study, the cause and effects of consultations requested for patients admitted to the emergency department of a secondary public hospital located in the eastern part of Turkey due to abdominal pain and trauma were reviewed. The study also intended to evaluate the outcomes and necessity of consultations and to demonstrate which issues the general emergency surgery involved. Materials And Methods: Overall, 820 patients who were consulted to the general surgery department by the emergency department between July 2018 and September 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The cases were divided into two as traumatic and nontraumatic. Results: A total of 782 (95.4%) patients were in the non-traumatic and 38 (4.6%) in the traumatic groups, 52.3% were male and 47.7% were female, and 71% (583) of the consulted patients were hospitalized. Acute appendicitis was the most common cause of consultation and appendectomy was the most frequently applied operation. Blood samples were taken from 790 patients. Posterior anterior X-ray, standing direct abdominal X-ray, ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging were performed in 470, 356, 386, 417, and 10 patients, respectively. Overall 440 (53.6%) patients were operated under emergency conditions. Genera, spinal, and local anesthesia was applied to 71.8%, 22.9%, and 5.2% patients, respectively. Conclusion: The general surgery department plays an important role in the consultations requested by the emergency department. The consultations made and the procedures performed were consistent with the literature. Therefore, to preclude unnecessary consultation and to reduce the workload and the cost of ordered tests, the number of emergency physicians working in clinics such as emergency department should be increased as well as training programs should be revised to improve the knowledge and experience of the associated branch specializations