A Survey of Health Care Worker’s Knowledge Gap of Abdominal Compartment Syndrome

Abstract

We investigated knowledge gaps regarding abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) among members of the Japanese Society for Abdominal Emergency Medicine. About a half of the respondents specialized in abdominal emergencies and the majority (86.1％) were familiar with ACS, but very few seemed to have an accurate understanding of the condition. Many of the respondents answered that they had no experience of intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH)/ACS, but we think it is possible that the diagnosis may have been overlooked. Thus, physicians should be made aware of the ACS guidelines, and as recommended, intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) should be proactively measured in cases considered as having risk factors. Following these suggestions actions could increase the number of cases diagnosed, which may lead to improved prognosis of patients with conditions that could predispose to IAH/ACS. The respondents accounted for only 6％ of the members, more than half of whom were surgeons. Therefore, surveys of emergency and intensive care specialists may yield different results. It will be necessary to investigate the epidemiology of IAH/ACS at multiple centers, beyond the level of academic societies.