Paula Maria Caldinhas
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
Title: Day-surgery and surgical waiting time
Biography
Biography: Paula Maria Caldinhas
Abstract
Surgical waiting time remains an important issue regarding access to health care provision. It is considered to be excessive in most OEDC countries (over twelve weeks or ninety days). The development of day surgery has been one of the strategies that proved effective in reducing surgical waiting time. This study aims to establish a correlation between surgical waiting time and the percentage of day-surgery cases, in hospitals with surgical services, in the Portuguese National Health Services. Methodology: An observational was conducted to establish the correlations existing between surgical waiting time and the percentage of day-surgery procedures realized, as well as associations with other variables, through multivariate and correlation analysis. Data was obtained at the Ministry of Health (ACSS).Results: A negative, statistically significant Spearman’s correlation was observed between the percentage of day-surgery cases and the waiting surgical time for elective procedures.