Sustainability and Success of the Acute Care Surgery Model in the Nontrauma Setting (original) (raw)

The Impact of an Acute Care Surgical Service on the Quality and Efficiency of Care Outcome Indicators for Patients with General Surgical Emergencies

Cureus

Background Acute care surgery (ACS) models address high volumes of emergency general surgery and emergency room (ER) overcrowding. The impact of ACS service model implementation on the quality and efficiency of care (EOC) outcomes in acute appendicitis (AA) and acute cholecystitis (AC) cohorts was evaluated. Methods A retrospective chart review (N=1,229) of adult AA and AC patients admitted prior to (pre-ACS; n=507; three hospitals; 2007) and after regionalization (R-ACS; n=722; one hospital; 2011). Results R-ACS time to ER physician assessment was significantly longer for AA (3.4 ± 2.3 versus 2.4 ± 2.6 hr; p ≤ 0.001). Surgical response times (1.3 ± 1.2 vs 2.6 ± 4.3 hr for AA; 1.8 ± 1.5 vs 4.1 ± 5.0 hr for AC; p ≤ 0.0001) and acquisition of imaging (4.1 ± 4.1 vs 6.9 ± 9.9 hr for AA, p ≤ 0.0001; 7.8 ± 1.9 vs 13.2 ± 18.5 hr for AC, p ≤ 0.008) occurred significantly faster with R-ACS. R-ACS resulted in a significant increase in night-time appendectomies (21.7% vs 11.1%; p ≤ 0.002), perforated appendices (29.1 % vs 18.9 %; p ≤ 0.006), 30-day readmissions (4.56% vs 0.82%; p ≤ 0.01), and lower rate of intraoperative complications for AC patients (2.78% vs 7.69%; p ≤ 0.02). Conclusions Despite the increased volume of patients seen with the implementation of R-ACS, surgical assessments and diagnostic imaging were significantly more prompt. EOC measures were maintained. Worse AA outcomes highlight areas for improvement in delivering R-ACS.

Acute care surgery: trauma, critical care, emergency general surgery … and preventative health?

The American Journal of Surgery, 2016

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Beyond just the operating room: characterizing the complete caseload of a tertiary acute care surgery service

Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie, 2018

Most studies evaluating acute care surgery (ACS) models of care for patients with emergency general surgery (EGS) conditions have focused on patients who undergo surgery while admitted under the care of the ACS service. The purpose of this study was to prospectively examine the case-mix of admissions and consultations to an ACS service at a tertiary centre to identify the frequency and distribution of both operatively and nonoperatively managed EGS conditions. In this prospective cohort study, we evaluated consecutive patients assessed by the ACS team between July 1 and Aug. 31, 2015, at a large Canadian tertiary care centre. This included all consultations and outside hospital transfers. Diagnoses, demographic characteristics, comorbidities, intervention(s), complications, readmission and in-hospital death were captured. The ACS team was involved in the care of 359 patients, 176 (49.0%) of whom were admitted under the direct care of the ACS team. Nonoperative care was indicated in ...

Implementation of an acute care emergency surgical service: a cost analysis from the surgeon’s perspective

Canadian Journal of Surgery, 2014

Background: Acute care surgical services provide comprehensive emergency general surgical care while potentially using health care resources more efficiently. We assessed the volume and distribution of emergency general surgery (EGS) procedures before and after the implementation of the Acute Care and Emergency Surgery Service (ACCESS) at a Canadian tertiary care hospital and its effect on surgeon billings. Methods: This single-centre retrospective case-control study compared adult patients who underwent EGS procedures between July and December 2009 (pre-ACCESS), to those who had surgery between July and December 2010 (post-ACCESS). Case distribution was compared between day (7 am to 3 pm), evening (3 pm to 11 pm) and night (11 pm to 7 am). Frequencies were compared using the χ 2 test. Results: Pre-ACCESS, 366 EGS procedures were performed: 24% during the day, 55% in the evening and 21% at night. Post-ACCESS, 463 operations were performed: 55% during the day, 36% in the evening and 9% at night. Reductions in night-time and evening EGS were 57% and 36% respectively (p < 0.001).

The effect of consolidating acute-care surgery on patient, staff, and resource outcomes

Protocols, 2011

The proposed review will address the following questions: What impact does consolidating surgical services through an "acute care surgery" model have on patients, staff, and resources? • What are the impacts of each of four (or more) variants of the acute care surgery model? • What effects, if any, are consistently found across different variants of the model? 1 The effect of consolidating acute-care surgery on patient, staff, and resource outcomes (Protocol)

A 30-day prospective audit of all inpatient complications following acute care surgery: How well do we really perform?

Canadian Journal of Surgery, 2020

Background: Acute care surgery (ACS) and emergency general surgery (EGS) services must provide timely care and intervention for patients who have some of the most challenging needs. Patients treated by ACS services are often critically ill and have both substantial comorbidities and poor physiologic reserve. Despite the widespread implemention of ACS/EGS services across North America, the true postoperative morbidity rates remain largely unknown. Methods: In this prospective study, inpatients at 8 high-volume ACS/EGS centres in geographically diverse locations in Canada who underwent operative interventions were followed for 30 days or until they were discharged. Readmissions during the 30-day window were also captured. Preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative variables were tracked. Standard statistical methodology was employed. Results: A total of 601 ACS/EGS patients were followed for up to 30 inpatient or readmission days after their index emergent operation. Fifty-one percent of patients were female, and the median age was 51 years. They frequently had substantial medical comorbidities (42%) and morbid obesity (15%). The majority of procedures were minimally invasive (66% laparoscopic). Median length of stay was 3.3 days and the early readmission (< 30 d) rate was 6%. Six percent of patients were admitted to the critical care unit. The overall complication and mortality rates were 34% and 2%, respectively. Cholecystitis (31%), appendicitis (21%), bowel obstruction (18%), incarcerated hernia (12%), gastrointestinal hemorrhage (7%) and soft tissue infections (7%) were the most common diagnoses. The morbidity and mortality rates for open surgical procedures were 73% and 5%, respectively. Conclusion: Nontrauma ACS/EGS procedures are associated with a high postoperative morbidity rate. This study will serve as a prospective benchmark for postoperative complications among ACS/EGS patients and subsequent quality improvement across Canada. Contexte : Les services de chirurgie dans les unités de soins actifs (CSA) et de chirurgie générale dans les services d'urgence (CGSU) doivent fournir rapidement des soins et des interventions à des patients dont les besoins sont parmi les plus complexes. En effet, les patients pris en charge par les services de CSA sont souvent gravement malades et présentent des comorbidités sur fond de faible réserve physiologique. Même si les services de CSA/CGSU se sont répandus en Amérique du Nord, les taux réels de morbidité postopératoire demeurent pour une bonne part inconnus. Méthodes : Dans cette étude prospective, on a suivi pendant 30 jours ou jusqu'à leur congé, les patients hospitalisés pour des interventions chirurgicales dans 8 centres de CSA/CGSU achalandés de divers endroits au Canada. On a également tenu compte des réadmissions dans les 30 jours. Les paramètres pré-, per-et postopératoires ont été enregis trés. Une méthodologie statistique standard a été appliquée.

The Importance of Improving the Quality of Emergency Surgery for a Regional Quality Collaborative

Annals of Surgery, 2013

INTRODUCTION-Within a large, statewide collaborative, significant improvement in surgical quality have been appreciated (9.0% reduction in morbidity for elective general and vascular surgery). Our group has not noted such quality improvement in the care of patients who had emergency operations. With this work, we aim to describe the scope of emergency surgical care within the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative (MSQC), variations in outcomes among hospitals, and variations in adherence to evidence based process measures. Overall, these data will form a basis for a broad based quality improvement initiative within Michigan. METHODS-We report morbidity, mortality, and costs of emergency and elective general and vascular surgery cases (n= 190,826) within 34 hospitals participating in the MSQC from 2005 to 2010. Adjusted hospital specific outcomes were calculated using a step-wise multivariable logistic regression model. Adjustment covariates included patient specific co-morbidities and case complexity. Hospitals were also compared based on their adherence to evidence based process measures (measures at the patient level for each case-SCIP 1 and 2 compliance). RESULTS-Emergency procedures account for approximately 11% of total cases, yet they represented 47% of mortalities and 28% of surgical complications. The complication-specific cost to payers was 126millionforemergencycasesand126 million for emergency cases and 126millionforemergencycasesand329 million for elective cases. Adjusted patient outcomes varied widely within MSQC hospitals; morbidity and mortality rates ranged from 16.3% to 33.9% and 4.0% to 12.4%, respectively. The variation among hospitals was not correlated with volume of emergency cases and case complexity. Hospital performance in emergency surgery was found to not depend on its share of emergent cases, but rather was found to directly correlate with its performance in elective surgery. For emergency colectomies, there was wide variation in compliance with SCIP 1 and 2 measures, and overall compliance (42.0%) was markedly lower than elective colon surgery (81.7%). CONCLUSION(S)-Emergency surgical procedures are an important target for future quality improvement efforts within Michigan. Future work will identify best practices within highperforming hospitals and disseminate these practices within the collaborative.