health. prevent and cure
Barcelona Hospital Surgical Area Barcelona Hospital provides more than 1,100 surgeons with the facilities, technology and staff they need in order to provide surgical treatment to more than 15,000 patients a year. Daniel Romaní
The Surgical Area is a central part of any hospital, and Barcelona Hospital is no exception. Ever since the establishment opened on Avinguda Diagonal in the city, the service has been extremely busy. During 2016, 15,604 surgical operations were performed in every specialist field, 14,092 of them scheduled, and 1,512 as emergencies. 69.8% of scheduled surgery is performed on a walk-in basis, without the need for conventional hospitalisation. More than 1,100 surgeons on the Assistència Sanitària medical lists made use of the service’s facilities. Safety of procedures
Surgical operations at Barcelona Hospital are typically scheduled around two weeks in advance, except for oncological surgery, which is scheduled the same week. Urgent surgery is performed within 24 hours. Between four and five urgent operations are performed every day. “In order to improve the safety of surgical procedures, a systematic pre-op checklist is run through by the nurse, anaesthetist and surgeon together. They check the patient name (asking about closest relatives, date of birth, any allergies suffered, etc.), ensure that it is the right procedure, mark where the surgery will be performed with an arrow, and check that the material is in the correct condition for use. All of this is noted down on the patient’s clinical record,” explains Aurora Yuste, Coordinator of the Barcelona Hospital Surgical Area. Aurora Yuste has considerable professional surgical experience, having worked at such leading hospitals as the Red Cross Hospital in Hospitalet (Barcelona), the Asepeyo Clinic (Barcelona), and the Mutual Union Traumatology Institute (Castellon). She has been employed at Barcelona Hospital since 1991. “In order to avoid any adverse events and incidents that could occur while treating surgical patients, the Barcelona Hospital Surgical Area prioritises among other aspects support for the incorporation of tools and the application of organisation and technology of the highest level, year after year,” Aurora Yuste asserts. The most advanced techniques
The pursuit of continuous improvement and patient
“During 2016, 15,604 surgical operations were conducted in every specialist field at Barcelona Hospital, 14,092 of them scheduled, and 1,512 performed as emergencies.”
safety are the core goals of the Barcelona Hospital Surgical Area, which uses the most appropriate technology at modern facilities. One example of this would be surgery with fluorescence for neurosurgery, thanks to a microscope with three fluorescence systems. This microscope allows for safer and more precise sectioning of primary brain tumours through contrast injection, making it easier to identify the tumour against the healthy brain tissue. It furthermore allows intracranial brain tumours to be treated, and has applications in the surgical treatment of cerebral vascular conditions. In the field of bariatric surgery, operations are per-