INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Previous estimates of the incidence of cardiac complications following major elective surgery have all been obtained in populations with specific risk factors or in contexts that differ from those found in Spain. Our aims were to estimate the frequency of postoperative cardiac complications following major elective non-cardiac surgery in patients aged 40 years or mor...

Waiting for elective surgery has been causing severe patient dissatisfaction and is becoming a major concern in most countries with publicly funded healthcare systems. While waitlists, which are used to rationalize the balances between healthcare service demand and supply, are almost impossible to avoid currently, healthcare policy makers could try to remove the tension through providing more s...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Participation in alternative payment models has focused efforts to improve outcomes and patient satisfaction while also lowering cost for elective hip and knee replacement. The purpose of this review is to determine if preoperative education classes for elective hip and knee replacement achieve these goals. RECENT FINDINGS Recent literature demonstrates that patients who att...

We report two cases of patients presenting for elective surgery, in whom significant gastric contents were identified by performing fortuitous ultrasound examination of their antral area. The first patient presented for a day-case surgery scheduled under regional anesthesia. With his consent, ultrasound examination of the antral area was by chance performed within the context of training for th...

OBJECTIVE To determine the clinical relevance of routine hemoglobin testing following an elective Cesarean section. METHODS The charts of all women who underwent elective Cesarean section at a public teaching hospital during 2001 were reviewed for pre- and postoperative hemoglobin values, demographic data, indication for surgery and need for blood transfusion. RESULTS The study group includ...