POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS OF ELECTIVE SURGERIES IN DOGS AND CATS DETERMINED BY EXAMINING ELECTRONIC AND PAPER MEDICAL RECORDS

Postoperative complications (POC) that developed in dogs and cats that underwent elective ovariohysterectomy, castration, and declaw at a ve terinary teaching hospital were determined by examining the computeriz ed abstracts of the medical records and by examining a random sample o f the paper medical records. When the computerized abstracts were exam ined, POC were found to have occurred in 62 (6.1%) of 1,016 dogs. One dog died and 6 others developed major complications. Postoperative com plications were found to have occurred in 38 (2.6%) of 1,459 cats. Two cats died and 1 was euthanatized. Four other cats developed major com plications. Complete paper medical records for 218 dogs and cats::were examined. When the paper medical records were examined, the proportio ns of dogs and cats with POC were 19.4% and 12.2%, respectively. These proportions were 4 to 7 times higher than when the computerized abstr acts were the data source. Results of this study indicate that the fre quency of clinically relevant POC of elective surgeries in dogs and ca ts is substantial. Examination oi the computerized abstracts of medica l records al this hospital allowed us to rapidly identify cases that c ould be included in the study but the frequency of POC would be signif icantly underestimated if paper records were not also assessed.