BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The primary goal of preoperative evaluation is to decrease morbidity/mortality related to surgical anesthetic procedures. All patient’s clinical surgical history must be obtained and only then the necessary exams may be determined. One of the most required exams is the electrocardiogram. This study aimed at comparing electrocar- diographic interpretation by cardiologists and different groups of anesthesiologists at Santa Casa de Porto Alegre. METHODS: Fifty resting electrocardiograms of several patients undergoing non cardiac surgeries were selected. All ECGs were analyzed and interpreted by two cardiologists and their agreement was considered the golden standard for interpretation. Anesthesiologists were divided in three groups: I - Preoperative Evaluation anesthesiologists - POEA (n = 5); II - Surgical Center Sarmento Barata Anesthesiologists (n = 10) and III - Resident Anesthesiologists (n = 5). All participants were asked to perform an ECG analysis and scores were established for such evaluation: rhythm = 2 points, heart rate = 1 point, P and PR = 2 points, QRS = 2 points, ST and T = 2 points and primary diagnosis = 1 point. RESULTS: Means obtained for each group were: group I - 7.35 ± 0.86 points; group II - 5.44 ± 1.69 points and group III - 6.34 ± 0.89 points and the difference between groups I and II was statistically significant (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative Evaluation Anesthesiologists achieved a higher score as compared to other groups. This was probably related to more training obtained by the constant ECG interpretation in the clinic.
ANESTHESIOLOGIST; PREOPERATIVE EVALUATION
