Background and objective: The aim of this arm of the ANESCAT 2003 study was to describe the use of emergency anesthesia in surgical specialties in Catalonia, Spain.
Patients and method: The data analyzed came from a prospective study of the anesthetic procedures performed in 131 hospitals in Catalonia on 14 randomly chosen days in 2003. Emergency anesthetic procedures for surgery (excluding obstetrics and nonsurgical procedures) were selected and the following variables analyzed: type of hospital, patient characteristics, procedure, anesthetic technique, time used, postoperative care, and type of emergency (deferrable or not). Data are expressed as medians (10th-90th percentile) and extrapolated to the population of Catalonia.
Results: Out of 23,136 anesthetic procedures recorded, 2,088 (corresponding to an estimated 54,437 anesthetic procedures in Catalonia annually) were associated with surgical emergencies; that figure represents 9% of all anesthetic procedures and 11.5% of anesthetic procedures performed for surgery. The emergency was deferrable in 51% of cases (an estimated 26,906 anesthetic procedures annually). A total of 81.2% of the emergency procedures were performed in hospitals belonging to the public system and 18.8% in private hospitals. Procedures performed from Monday to Friday accounted for 80.6% of emergency procedures. Procedures performed between the hours of 08:00 and 16:00 accounted for 46.5% of the total and 8.1% were performed between 00:00 and 08:00. Sixty percent of deferrable procedures were undertaken between 08:00 and 16:00. Men accounted for 52.4% of all patients, the median age was 51 (15-83) years, and 15.3% of patients were severely ill (American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status class 4). Taken together, orthopedic surgery and traumatology, and general and digestive surgery accounted for 74.4% of the anesthesia practice considered. General anesthesia was used in 51% of cases and regional anesthesia in 38%. The length of anesthesia was greater in deferrable emergencies (90 minutes). Patients were admitted to postoperative critical care units in 18% of cases.
Conclusions: Anesthesia for surgical emergencies accounted for around 10% of the anesthetic procedures performed in Catalonia in 2003, and more than 50% of those procedures could have been deferred.