Abstract
Background:
Perioperative pulmonary complications (PPC) are more common in patients undergone gastrointestinal surgery, however, the awareness and attention of surgeons on perioperative lung protection (PLP) is still seriously inadequate. The study was designed to investigate the situation of PLP in gastrointestinal surgery in mainland China.
Methods:
The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University was taken as the initiating unit. A WeChat questionnaire was delivered to physicians who have worked more than two years and respiratory therapists (RT) with unlimited years of experience in gastrointestinal surgery or intensive care unit (ICU) in mainland China. Two rounds of investigation were conducted for initial screening and WeChat follow-up.
Results:
A total of 157 valid questionnaires were collected, including 89 hospitals in 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. There were 57 hospitals among them (57/89, 64.0%) have respiratory therapists, they mainly worked in the ICU and respiratory departments. RTs from only 9 of 57 (9/57, 15.7%) hospitals provided assistance to patients in the perioperative of gastrointestinal surgery. The prevalence of respiratory therapy techniques remains unsatisfactory (Figure). 60 gastrointestinal surgeons were surveyed totally, 52 (86.7%) out of them considered PPC as the most important perioperative complication during gastrointestinal surgery. However, their awareness of respiratory therapy technology project still needs to be further improved.
Conclusions:
Gastrointestinal surgery patients are supported from respiratory therapy in mainland China is seriously lacking. The main reasons are the shortage of RTs, and they do not pay enough attention to gastrointestinal surgery. We call for more attention to the training of RTs and PLP in gastrointestinal surgery patients.
Popularizing rate of postoperative lung protection program
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