This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Avoiding certain surgical complications critical to quality improvement
Several specific complications have been linked to the rate at which patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of a major neurological procedure, according to study results.
Researchers retrospectively identified patients discharged from the UCLA Medical Center during a 3-year period after a major neurological procedure who were then readmitted within 30 days. The researchers categorized the reasons for readmission as surgical, medical diagnosis/complication, problem associated with the original diagnosis, neurological decompensation, pain management and miscellaneous.
During the 3-year period studied, there were 5,569 neurological procedures performed and 365 subsequent readmissions. Surgical complications were the most common reason for readmission at 50.1%. Medical diagnosis and complications were the second most common at 28.2%, according to the researchers.
Specifically, the largest group of patients with surgical complications requiring readmission were those who had cerebrospinal fluid shunt-related problems; surgical site infection and cerebrospinal fluid leakage were the second and third most common complications, respectively.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.