Authors

1Raquel Guzmán Carrasco, 1Montserrat Cabañas Campos, 1Rosa Mª Corregidor Casillas, 1Raquel Calvo de Miguel

Position

1Enfermeras. Unidad de Hospitalización Cirugía Ortopédica y Traumatología. Hospital 12 de Octubre (Madrid).

Contact address

Raquel Guzmán Carrasco. C/ Ana Frank, 45. 28342 Valdemoro (Madrid).

Contact email: raquelguzmanc@hotmail.com

Abstract

Objective: to learn the clinical profile of those patients who present complications / adverse effects during the postoperative period after major orthopaedic surgery in the hospital unit.
Method: a descriptive, observational, longitudinal study conducted in the Orthopedic Surgery ward of the Hospital 12 de Octubre, in Madrid. The study included those patients hospitalized for orthopaedic surgery who were over 18 years of age, had no cognitive deterioration, and had undergone an arthroplasty or hip fracture repair.  
Clinical record data were collected through a form with the following variables: age, gender, diagnosis, procedure, past history, hospital stay: the outcome variable was the development of complications (infection, deep vein thrombosis and/or bleeding) or adverse effect (constipation, pressure ulcer, fall and/or acute confusional syndrome).
Results: the study included 134 patients with a mean 73 years of age (10.9); 64.2% of them were women and 35.8% were men. The median [IQR] of stay was 9 [8-13] days.
A 63.4% of patients suffered complications/adverse effects; the most common was constipation, which appeared in 44.8% of patients. Statistical significance was found between the presentation of a complication/adverse effect and age, gender, diagnosis and hospital stay; however, there was no description of any association with the procedure and with presenting a previous condition.
Conclusions: the profile of those patients who present a complication/adverse effect in the period after major orthopaedic surgery in the hospital unit would be: a 74-year-old woman with diagnosed coxarthrosis and a hospital stay prolonged to 10 days.

Keywords:

Arthroplasty; Hip fracture; postoperative period; complications; adverse effects

Versión en Español

Título:

Perfil clínico de los pacientes que sufren complicaciones/efectos adversos tras una cirugía mayor ortopédica