Profile of patients admitted to the General Surgery Ward of a tertiary care hospital: A record based study (original) (raw)

This hospital based study was conducted to determine the profile of patients coming to the general surgery outpatient department (OPD) of a tertiary care hospital. Demographic details, morbidity profile, investigations done, treatment rendered and the clinical outcomes of patients were evaluated. The difference in the rate of employment between male and female patients was statistically highly significant (X2=45.04, p<0.01). Abdominal pain was the main presenting symptom with 13 (11.82%) of the patients presenting with burning epigastric pain, 11 (10%) with hypochondriac pain while 5 (4.55%) presenting with right iliac fossa pain. An ultrasound of the abdomen and pelvis was the most common investigation ordered ie, for 36 (32.72%) patients. Gastritis was the commonest diagnosis ie, in 14 (12.72%) patients followed by hernia in 13 (11.71%) patients and cholelithiasis in 11 (10%) patients. 22 (20%) patients had diabetes followed by 9 (8.18%) who had hypertension. 46 (41.82%) patients developed complications after treatment which included surgical site infections, urinary tract infections and paralytic ileus. 22 (20%) patients had diabetes followed by 9 (8.18%) who had hypertension while 8 (7.27%) had both diabetes and hypertension. The difference in the rates of complications amongst those who have co-morbidities and amongst those who do not is statistically significant (X2=7.87, p=0.005).