Discharging patients after colorectal surgery: a Medical Research Institute experience

Colorectal surgery comprises a sizeable proportion of health care resources and attention is increasingly directed toward accelerating postoperative recovery thus decreasing the requirement for patient hospitalization after surgery. The use of standardized hospital discharge criteria is considered valuable to reduce the risk of premature discharge and avoid unnecessary hospital stays. Aim of the work: The aim of this study is to compare the criteria suggested by Fiore et al. international consensus against the standard method used in clinical and experimental surgery department, medical research institute Hospital, Egypt. Patients and Methods: 60 patients were divided into two equal groups. Group I included 30 patients discharged according to Fiore et al. criteria while Group II: included 30 patients discharged according to the usual practice in the unit. Results: There were no differences in demographic data between the two groups. Regaining of normal peristalsis in both groups was also similar, both groups passed flatus and stool at about the same time. In our study, both groups had no difference in time of pain control by oral analgesia (opioid + NSAIDs or NSAIDs alone). In this study both groups had similar rates of wound infection, 30% for group I and 23% for group II, while both groups were similar in albumin level. Differences in social acceptance of hospital discharge were not statistically significant between both groups. Conclusion: The end point of this study was the rate of readmission which was 6.7% in both groups. So not only these discharge criteria are applicable and achievable, but we can also say they proved to be dependable