[Construct validity of the TECS questionnaire for the quality of teamwork in surgery]

Objective

To assess the construct validity and reliability of the Trabajo en Equipo en Cirugía (TECS) questionnaire.

Method

The questionnaire was administered to 401 undergraduate students who were doing surgery practices at three universities. An exploratory factor analysis was performed on the first 200 observations, and a confirmatory factor analysis on the remaining ones. The reliability of the instrument was established with Cronbach's alpha.

Results

The average age of the study population was 22 years (± 1.4) and 65.5% were women. The factors "Student's disposition towards teamwork", "Structure of the work environment" and "Leadership and collaboration in the work team" showed excellent internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.94. The results in the exploratory factor analysis showed adequate goodness of fit with the empirical data.

Conclusions

The TECS is a valid (content and construct) and reliable instrument to assess the quality of teamwork in surgery in medical students.

Cost-effectiveness analysis regarding postoperative administration of vitamin-D and calcium after thyroidectomy to prevent hypocalcaemia

OBJECTIVE

Hypocalcaemia is a frequently arising complication following total thyroidectomy. Routine postoperative prophylactic administration of vitamin D or metabolites and calcium reduce the incidence of symptomatic hypocalcaemia; this article reports evaluating its cost-effectiveness in Colombia.

METHODS

Meta-analysis was used for comparing the administration of vitamin D or metabolites to oral calcium or no treatment at all in patients following total thyroidectomy and a cost-effectiveness analysis was designed based on a decision-tree model with local costs.

RESULTS

The OR value for the comparison between calcitriol and calcium compared to no treatment and to exclusive calcium treatment groups was 0.32 (0.13-0.79 95 %CI) and 0.31 (0.14-0.70 95 %CI), respectively. The most cost-effective strategy was vitamin D or metabolites and calcium administration, having a US $0.05 incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.

CONCLUSION

Prophylactic treatment of hypocalcaemia with vitamin D or metabolites + calcium or calcium alone is a cost-effective strategy.

Prognosis of patients with thyroid cancer who do not undergo surgical treatment: a SEER database analysis

BACKGROUND

The treatment for thyroid cancer is surgical. However, some patients do not undergo operations because of comorbidities or other reasons. There is little information about the prognosis of these patients. The aim of the present study was to describe patients with well differentiated thyroid carcinoma who did not undergo surgical treatment and to identify differences in prognostic variables and survival compared with patients treated surgically.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective review of a prospective cohort collected by the National Cancer Institute obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. All patient files with a diagnosis of thyroid cancer were selected (38,493 cases). Finally, 12,416 cases were used for the analysis. Treatment was divided into surgical or nonsurgical groups. Five-year survival rates were estimated and classified by the SEER stage.

RESULTS

Eighty-six patients did not receive surgical treatment. These patients were older, had more advanced tumours and their treatment was less associated with complementary radiotherapy. Five-year overall survival rates were 96.7% for surgical patients vs. 56.8% for nonsurgical patients (p<0.001). The overall survival in the nonsurgery group for localised tumours decreased 14.9%, for regional tumours decreased 49.9% and for distant tumours decreased 61.8%.

DISCUSSION

The patients who did not undergo surgical treatment showed less than 5-year overall survival. The SEER database does not offer information about comorbidities that could explain these differences.

[Analysis of factors for conversion of laparoscopic to open cholecystectomy: a prospective study of 703 patients with acute cholecystitis]

AIMS

Conversions to open surgery during laparoscopic cholecystectomy are performed in 20% of patients with acute cholecystitis, and are associated with increased morbidity and costs. The aim of this study was to identify predictive factors for conversion and to evaluate morbidity, mortality and hospital stay.

METHODS

A prospective cohort of patients admitted to the emergency department with acute cholecystitis. We evaluated the statistical significance of the demographic, clinical, biochemical, imaging and surgical factors at admission, associated with conversion to open surgery using a univariate model. The associated factors evaluated during initial analysis were then included in a multivariate analysis. Finally a comparative analysis was made of the morbidity and mortality in both models.

RESULTS

A total of 703 patients were included. Conversion rate was 13.8%. Univariate analysis identified as factors: male gender, previous ERCP, leucocytes>12,000 mm(3), age>70 years, hypertension, jaundice, cholangitis, total bilirubin>2mg/dl, ASA III-IV, gallbladder wall enlargement and choledocholithiasis. Logistic regression identified as predictive factors: previous ERCP, leucocytes, age>70 years and male gender. Converted patients had a higher morbidity rate, further operations and longer hospital stays (P<.001). No difference was seen in mortality.

DISCUSSION

It is important to recognise patients with a higher risk of conversion in order to optimise planning and performing of the surgical procedure, and to decrease the morbidity associated with laparotomy, given that the independent factors identified are not modifiable.