The cause of postoperative readmissions

A study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that surgical site infections (SSI) caused the most complications that led to postoperative patients being readmitted.

 

Researchers examined the 2012 readmission statistics from almost 350 hospitals nationwide and found that 6% of cases had unplanned readmissions and just 2% of those were due to complications that occurred during the patients’ initial hospital stays.

 

About 20% of readmissions resulted from SSIs. Obstruction or Ileus was the second most common cause for readmission at just over 10%. Other common causes for readmissions included dehydration or nutritional deficiency, bleeding or anemia, and prosthesis or graft issues.