Overlapping surgery showed operative factors comparable to non-overlapping surgery

SAN DIEGO — In an ambulatory setting, overlapping surgery had procedure time and 30-day complication rates similar to that of non-overlapping surgery, according to results presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.

“Overlapping surgery yields equivalent patient OR time, procedure time and 30-day complication rates as non-overlapping surgery in an ambulatory orthopedic study,” Alan Zhang, MD, said in his presentation here.

Alan Zhang

Zhang and his colleagues stratified 3,640 cases based upon whether the cases overlapped with other surgical cases. Subspecialties reviewed included sports medicine, hand, foot and ankle, according to Zhang, and all surgeons performed both one-room and two-room surgeries.

“[Operating room] OR metrics that we analyzed included the procedure time, from skin incision to skin closure; anesthesia time; total OR time, from when the patient rolled in to when they rolled out; and total facility time, to when they checked in to our facility to when they checked out,” Zhang said.

Researchers measured 30-day outcomes, adverse events or complications, unplanned readmissions, reoperations and emergency department visits.

Results showed two-thirds of the cases reviewed had some amount of overlap and one-third did not have overlap.

“When we looked at our OR metrics, we found that there [are] equivalent times in both groups in terms of whether it was anesthesia time, OR time, procedure time or total facility time,” Zhang said.

Zhang noted no significant differences in adverse events within 30 days after surgery between the groups, as well as similar rates of complications, readmissions, reoperations and emergency department visits. – by Casey Tingle

Reference:

Dang DY, et al. Paper #334. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting. March 14-18, 2017; San Diego.

Disclosure: Zhang reports no relevant financial disclosures.