Pregnancy Testing Prior to Surgery

0 0 1 211 1208 Private 10 2 1417 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Aims – The aim were to audit our current practice of doing pregnancy test in women of child bearing age prior to elective and emergency general surgical procedures and to determine our adherence to the NICE and NPSA guidelines with this regard. Methods – Clinical notes of eligible patients were reviewed and information with regards to pregnancy testing was obtained on 17 random days between July 2013 and January 2014. All female patients aged 16-55 years admitted for elective or emergency surgery, who were inpatient at the time on one of the three surgical wards and had surgery performed during current admission were the inclusion criteria. Patients with age less than 16 years or more than 55 years, had undergone previous hysterectomy or bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and day surgery cases were excluded. Results – 23 women met the inclusion criteria. Pregnancy status was recorded in 16 (70%) women. 7 (30%) women had no pregnancy status or ? hCG test result recorded. ? hCG was not recorded in 2 of 5 women who had undergone elective surgery and 5 of 18 who underwent emergency surgery. Conclusions – Pregnancy testing was only done in 70% of the eligible patients, standard being 100%. Recommendations are to reiterate the standards to surgical teams, to record ? hCG at a single marked area on clerking sheet, test kits should be available on all wards and this to be a part WHO preoperative checklist