Abstract
Introduction
Nationally 61,220 Laparoscopic Cholecystectomies are carried out annually. Those carried out as day-cases reduce providers’ costs and increase income through the best practice tariff. The system in our trust to record discharges is ‘Trakcare’.
The aim of this audit was to accurately measure the discharge times of patients undergoing elective Laparoscopic Cholecystectomies, to try and reduce the number of patients recorded as having an overnight stay by accurate data collection.
Methods
Initial data was collected for all elective Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy discharge times on Trakcare, over a 1 month period.
This data was then re-audited prospectively both from Trakcare and discharges reported by nurses/patients.
A comparison was then made of Trakcare against reported discharge times.
Results
Initially 54 operations were recorded, with 30 completed as day cases (55.6%). The re-audited data (on Trakcare) recorded 47 operations, with 15 completed as day cases (37.91%). Of these discharges we were able to capture 26 (55.32%) manually, and 11 were completed as day cases (42.31%).
Measuring these 26 with the same operations on Trakcare we were unable to show a difference in the number of cases completed as a day case (11 vs 11), with only a 33 minute decrease in the average length of stay.
Conclusion
Trakcare is a reliable tool for measuring the date of discharge for patients. The recommendations in are: scheduling surgery for a time pre-13:00 shows a higher proportion of patients discharged the same day, and continue to use Trakcare to record discharge times.
Intraoperative Findings of Elective Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Diabetics Versus Nondiabetics: A Comparative Study
