Studies shed light on surgical outcomes, readmissions

Unplanned hospital readmissions for patients following surgery are primarily due to new surgical complications rather than the worsening of patients’ previous medical issues, according to a study published in the Feb. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Researchers tracked the outcomes of patients for 30 days following nearly 500,000 operations at 346 hospitals. Overall, the readmission rate was 5.7%, and surgical site infections (SSI) were the most common reason for readmission, occurring in 19.5% of postoperative readmissions.

Surgical outcomes also may not improve simply due to participation in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, according to another study posted in JAMA. The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, in place since 2000, requires nurses to record data about and evaluate every operation conducted at participating hospitals. But participating hospitals didn't report better patient outcomes or lower Medicare payments than those at non-participating hospitals, suggesting that "feedback on outcomes alone may not be sufficient to improve surgical outcomes," the study says.

Source: JAMA, FierceHealthCare