[Quality control of care in a surgical department. Experience of the Fondation Berganié].

Activity in a surgical department can be evaluated quantitatively, but is should also be assessed qualitatively. One way to control the quality of care is to determine as accurately as possible the incidence of pre- peri- and post-operative complications and to analyse these date in a critical comparative study. This was accomplished in the surgical department of the Fondation Bergonié, Bordeaux during three test periods over the last five years--March 1987 (127 patients), June-July 1989 (276 patients), and June 1991 (147 patients). Results of this analysis cannot validly be compared with those of other departments with different patient recruitment and activity functions. However, this study within a department with regular, homogeneous activity did demonstrate, over a period of several years, a clear reduction in operative mortality, essentially by improved control of infectious complications by the extensive use of prophylactic antibiotic therapy for all surgery with a septic risk or for debilitated patients. Results also demonstrated the low cost effectiveness of routine pre-operative exploratory examinations.