Day-case septoplasty and unexpected re-admissions at a dedicated day-case unit: A 4-year audit

Introduction: Septal surgery has been identified as suitable for day-surgery, but is not widely performed as such. Guidelines for day-surgery state that the unexpected admission rate should be 2-3%. Previous audits have not achieved this figure and septoplasty is not universally considered suitable for day-surgery. We have reviewed practice over 4 years in our institution to identify surgical and patient factors associated with unexpected admission following septoplasty. Patients and methods: A retrospective case note based audit of day-case septoplasty procedures reviewed at the end of each year between October 1998 and October 2002. Results: A total of 432 septal surgery procedures were performed, comprising 378 septoplasties and 54 submucous resections. Thirty-eight patients were admitted, overwhelmingly because of haemorrhage in the immediate postoperative period, giving an overall admission rate of 8.8% within the first 24 h. Factors associated strongly with re-admission were the use of intranasal splints, the performance of revision surgery, submucous resection (as opposed to septoplasty) and, less so, the performance of additional procedures and the peri-operative administration of diclofenac. There was no correlation between unexpected admission and grade of surgeon, surgical technique or any of the patient factors analysed. Conclusions: The unexpected admission rate of septal surgery performed at our unit is above that recommended for day-case procedures, but is within the range previously published. Patient satisfaction with day-case septoplasty has been shown to be high. We believe that septoplasty should be performed in this setting but there is a significant chance that patients may need admission, and a pathway should be in place for this to occur with minimal disruption to the patient.