Assessing the Effect of the Physician's Presence on the Error of Recording Surgical Codes by Surgical Assistants and the Resulting Financial Effects in Rasoul Akram Hospital

this study aims investigating the effect of the physician's presence on the error of recording surgical codes by surgical assistants and the resulting financial effects in Rasoul Akram hospital.

The present study was a descriptive-analytical and prospective study that was performed by collecting data in the hospital and reviewing the documents from Jun to March 2022. Therefore, in order to compare the deductions according to the presence or absence of the doctor, an expert was stationed in the operating room to enter the information in special forms, and thus the types of deductions for each of the mentioned situations were identified. T-test was used for analysis between the two groups (presence and absence of physician) and data were analyzed using Excel and SPSS software.

Three hundred and one records were reviewed during the presence of the physician and 300 cases during the absence of the physician based on Cochran sampling formula. The percent difference between hidden deductions in the presence and absence of the physician was not significant (P-value=0.078). However, the difference between the obvious deductions in the presence and absence of the physicians was significant (P-value=0.024). The difference in obvious deduction costs was significant in the presence or absence of a physician (P-value<0.001). But, the difference in hidden fraction costs in the presence or absence of physicians, was not significant (P-value=0.435).

The presence or absence of a surgeon has an effect on the amount of errors in the registration of surgical codes by the surgeon’s assistant and, as a result, this matter affects the percentage and costs of surgical deductions, especially in the obvious deductions. Therefore, planning for the presence of the surgeon in cases where the error of registering the codes by the surgeon’s assistant leads to obvious deductions, can help to more accurate documentation and, as a result, fewer deductions are accrued.