This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Influx of new residents in July has ‘negligible effect’ on spine surgery outcomes

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic and University of Virginia found a “minor to negligible” July effect, or notion that a wave of new residents and fellows at teaching hospitals during the start of the academic year could cause errors leading to worse patient outcomes, after spine surgery.

“We hope that our findings will reassure patients that they are not at higher risk of medical complications if they undergo spinal surgery during July as compared to other times of the year,” Jennifer S. McDonald, PhD, stated in a Journal of Neurosurgery press release. The results were published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine.

Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, McDonald and colleagues examined 968,086 spinal surgery hospitalizations between 2001 and 2008. Among these, 55% of cases were at teaching hospitals and the rest were at non-teaching centers. The spine procedures included spinal fusion with or without decompression, discectomy with or without decompression, and decompression alone, according to the study.

The researchers found there was a small, but statistically significant, higher incidence of postoperative infection and discharge to a long-term facility among patients of teaching hospitals in July compared to other months. They noted in their study, “however, incidence rates were similar regardless of admission month.” McDonald and colleagues also found a small, but statistically significant higher number of patients with postoperative infection and discharge to a long-term facility among those who underwent complex surgical procedures at teaching hospitals in July. The investigators found no significant differences for other complications or in-hospital mortality when they compared the months of admission.

“This study of nationwide hospitalizations demonstrates that the influx of new residents and fellows in July has a negligible effect on periprocedural outcomes following spine surgery.” McDonald and colleagues wrote in their study.

Reference:

McDonald JS. J Neurosurg: Spine. 2013;doi:10.3171/2012.12.SPINE12300.

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.