• P Serrano Aguilar, J López Bastida, B Duque González, J Pino Capote, F González Miranda, A Rodríguez Pérez, and J Erdocia Eguía.
• Servicio del Plan de Salud, Investigación y Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias, Servicio Canario de Salud, Spain. pserrano@gobiernodecanarias.org
• Rev Esp Anestesiol Reanim. 2001 Aug 1;48(7):307-13.

ObjectivesTo analyze patterns of routine testing before elective/scheduled surgery in healthy/asymptomatic patients classified as ASA I or II according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists.Material And MethodA questionnaire on the organization of preoperative testing was completed by anesthesiologists at five public hospitals in the Canary Islands. The questionnaire emphasized the most commonly ordered screening procedures, such as chest X-rays, electrocardiograms, laboratory tests and spirometry.ResultsRed cell counts were most frequently requested (for 86% of the patients), followed by platelet counts (80%) and blood chemistry (75%) and coagulation studies (72%). Least requested were urine tests and spirometry. The frequencies of electrocardiogram and chest X-ray requests fell between the two extremes, with patient age and the presence of certain indications seeming to affect whether those tests would be ordered or not. The need for such screening was perceived to increase for patients over 40 years of age. The ordering of preoperative tests varied from hospital to hospital and among anesthesiologists at a single site in spite of established protocols.ConclusionsHospitals and individual anesthesiologists differ considerably in how they request preoperative tests. The variations can not be explained solely by differing patient needs given that respondents were contemplating only healthy/asymptomatic individuals undergoing relatively simple procedures.

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