Perceptually Discriminating the Highest Priority Alarms Reduces Response Time: A Retrospective Pre-Post Study at Four Hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: Reduce nurse response time for emergency and high-priority alarms by increasing discriminability between emergency and all other alarms and suppressing redundant and likely false high-priority alarms in a secondary alarm notification system (SANS). BACKGROUND: Emergency alarms are the most urgent, requiring immediate action to address a dangerous situation. They are clinician-triggered and have higher positive predictive value (PPV). High-priority alarms are automatically triggered and have lower PPV. METHOD: We performed a retrospective pre-post study, analyzing data 15 months before and 25 months after a SANS redesign was implemented in four hospitals. For emergency alarms, we incorporated digitized human speech to distinguish them from automatically triggered alarms, leaving their onset and escalation pathways unchanged. For automatically triggered alarms, we suppressed some by delaying initial onset and escalation by 20 s. We used linear mixed models to assess the change in response time, Fisher's exact test for the proportion of response times longer than 120 s, and control charts for process stability. RESULTS: Response time for emergency alarms decreased at all hospitals (main, from 26.91 s to 22.32 s, p < .001; cardiac, from 127.10 s to 52.43 s, p < .001; cancer, from 18.03 s to 15.39 s, p < .001). Improvements were sustained. Automatically triggered alarms decreased 25.0%. Response time for the three automatically triggered cardiac alarms increased at the four hospitals. CONCLUSION: Auditory sound disambiguation was associated with a sustained reduced nurse response time for emergency alarms, but suppressing some high-priority automatically triggered alarms was not. APPLICATION: Distinguishing and escalating urgent, actionable alarms with higher PPV improves response time.

Applying Human Factors Engineering to Address the Telemetry Alarm Problem in a Large Medical Center.

OBJECTIVE: Address the alarm problem by redesigning, reorganizing, and reprioritizing to better discriminate alarm sounds and displays in a hospital. BACKGROUND: Alarms in hospitals are frequently misunderstood, disregarded, and overridden. METHOD: Discovery-oriented, intervention, and translational studies were conducted. Study objectives and measures varied, but had the shared goals of increasing positive predictive value (PPV) of critical alarms by reducing low-PPV alarms in the background, prioritizing alarms, redesigning alarm sounds to increase information content, and transparently conveying who initiated alarms. An alarm ontology was iteratively generated and refined until consensus was achieved. RESULTS: The ontology distinguishes five levels of urgency that incorporate likely PPV, three categories for who initiates the alarm (hospital staff, patient, or machine), whether it is clinical or technical, and clinical functions. CONCLUSION: This unique collaboration allowed us to make progress on the alarm problem by making unintuitive leaps, avoiding common missteps, and refuting conventional healthcare approaches. APPLICATION: Hospitals can consistently redesign, reorganize, reprioritize, and better discriminate alarms by priority, PPV, and content to reduce nurse response times.

Defining the learning curve of robotic thoracic surgery: what does it take?

BACKGROUND: Controversy exists as to what constitutes a learning curve to achieve competency, and how the initial learning period of robotic thoracic surgery should be approached. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of the literature published prior to December 2018 using PubMed/MEDLINE for studies of surgeons adopting the robotic approach for anatomic lung resection or thymectomy. Changes in operating room time and outcomes based on number of cases performed, type of procedure, and existing proficiency with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) were examined. RESULTS: Twelve observational studies were analyzed, including nine studies on robotic lung resection and three studies on thymectomy. All studies showed a reduction in operative time with an increasing number of cases performed. A steep learning curve was described for thymectomy, with a decrease in operating room time in the first 15 cases and a plateau after 15-20 cases. For anatomic lung resection, the number of cases to achieve a plateau in operative time ranged between 15-20 cases and 40-60 cases. All but two studies had at least some VATS experience. Six studies reported on experience of over one hundred cases and showed continued gradual improvements in operating room time. CONCLUSION: The learning curve for robotic thoracic surgery appears to be rapid with most studies indicating the steepest improvement in operating time occurring in the initial 15-20 cases for thymectomy and 20-40 cases for anatomic lung resection. Existing data can guide a standardized robotic curriculum for rapid adaptation, and aid credentialing and quality monitoring for robotic thoracic surgery programs.

Interventions to Reduce Burnout and Improve Resilience: Impact on a Health System's Outcomes.

With the continuously changing health care environment and dramatic shift in patient demographics, institutions have the responsibility of identifying and dedicating resources for maintaining and improving wellness and resilience among front line providers to assure the quality of patient care. Our institution, the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC), has addressed the goal to decrease burnout for providers in a multistep, multiprofessional, and multiyear program starting firstly with institutional cultural change then focused provider interventions, and lastly, proactive resilience engagement. We describe herein our approach and outcomes as measured by provider wellness and health system outcomes. In addition, we address the overall feasibility and effectiveness of these programs in promoting provider compassion and mindfulness while reducing burnout and improving resilience. Institutional culture change and readiness were initiated in 2010 with the introduction of Crew Resource Management training for all providers across the OSUWMC. This multiyear program was implemented and has been sustained to the current day. Focused interventions to improve mindfulness were undertaken in the form of both Mindfulness in Motion (MIM) training for intensive care unit personnel and a "flipped classroom" mindfulness training for faculty and residents. Lastly, sustainable changes were introduced in the form of the Gabbe Health and Wellness program which consists of interprofessional MIM training and other wellness offerings for staff, faculty, and residents embedded across the entire medical center. The introduction of Crew Resource Management in 2010 continues to be endorsed and supported throughout OSUWMC for all providers, including residents and students. The improvements seen have not only improved patient satisfaction but also reduced patient safety events and improved national reputation for the institution as a whole. Subsequently, MIM training for intensive care unit providers has resulted in improved resilience as well as decreased patient safety events. In addition, the "flipped classroom" mindfulness training for residents and faculty has resulted in improvements in providing calm and compassionate care, improvements in physician wellbeing, and reductions in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Lastly, implementing the Gabbe Health and Wellness program inclusive of interprofessional MIM training for staff, faculty, and residents has resulted in significant reductions in burnout while significantly increasing resilience postintervention. The engagement from staff and enthusiasm to continue this program have escalated and been positively accepted across OSUWMC. To reduce the incidence of burnout, improve resilience, and ultimately improve patient outcomes, a health system must identify and prioritize a commitment and dedication of resources to develop and sustain a multimodal and interprofessional approach to change. These initiatives at OSU originated with cultural transformation allowing the acceptance of change in the form of mindfulness training, resilience building, and the engagement of organizational science, so as to demonstrate the outcomes and impact to the health system and academic peers. Herein we describe the work that has been done thus far, both published and in progress, to understand our journey.

Using timbre to improve performance of larger auditory alarm sets.

Identifiability and perceived urgency were compared for two sets of alarms in a healthcare inpatient setting. One contained currently used alarms where possible, with new sounds added as needed. The other was designed together, was more heterogenous, used timbre to encode intended similarities and explicitly encoded intended urgency across the set. Twenty nurses reported the identity and perceived urgency of the sounds in each set. Participants correctly identified the sound (0.89 vs. 0.77) and alarm category (0.93 vs. 0.82) more often in the new set than in the baseline set. In addition, multiple sounds in the new set were more identifiable. The new sounds also had a larger range of perceived urgency and better urgency match. The results indicate that timbre is well-suited to encode alarm groupings in larger alarm sets and that this, along with increased heterogeneity and explicit urgency mapping, improves alarm set performance. Practitioner summary: Clinical alarms are frequently misidentified. We found that making alarms more acoustically rich, using timbre to convey alarm groups, and explicitly encoding intended urgency improved identifiability and urgency match. These findings can be used to improve alarm performance across all safety-critical industries.

ERAS: Safety checklists, antibiotics, and VTE prophylaxis.

The concept rested on several components that many of us have now tried to adopt or improve on, inclusive of a multidisciplinary team, a multimodal approach to anesthesia and preoperative preparedness, evidence-based approach to care protocols; and a change in management using interactive and continuous audit prior to and post-procedure. This article describes the development of ERAS protocols relative to checklist implementation, antibiotic use, and venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention, how these ideas are developed and operationalized as well as how they are evolving and spreading across the care continuum to achieve sustained outcome improvements.

Safe Practice Recommendations for the Use of Copy-Forward with Nursing Flow Sheets in Hospital Settings.

BACKGROUND: In early 2016 the Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety released safe practice recommendations for the use of copy-paste for electronic health record (EHR) documentation. These recommendations do not directly address nurses' use of copy-forward to document patient assessments in flow sheet software in hospital settings. Similar to clinicians' use of copy-paste and copy-forward with progress notes, concerns exist about patient safety issues from the use of potential inaccurate or outdated information to achieve increased efficiency of documentation. METHODS: A multiple-methods approach-which included a literature review, litigation search, stakeholder analysis, and consensus opinion from experts from multiple disciplines-was employed. RESULTS: Four recommendations correspond closely with copy-paste guidance for EHR documentation from the Partnership: (1) Provide a mechanism to make copied-forward content easily identifiable, (2) Ensure that the provenance of copied-forward content is readily available, (3) Ensure adequate staff training and education regarding the appropriate and safe use of copy-forward in flow sheet software, if available, and (4) Ensure that copy-forward practices are regularly monitored, measured, and assessed. A fifth additional recommendation is made to improve the efficiency of data entry mechanisms, which may reduce patient safety risk. Emerging promising areas for innovation are to optimize interface usability and flow sheet content, use templates, use digital photographs, and eliminate work-flow steps with better methods for authentication and data entry. CONCLUSIONS: A thoughtful and measured approach to safe use of copy-forward in flow sheets by nurses in hospital settings is expected to result in improvements in efficiency of documentation, work flow, and accuracy of information.

Risk factors for retained surgical items: a meta-analysis and proposed risk stratification system.

BACKGROUND: Retained surgical items (RSI) are designated as completely preventable "never events". Despite numerous case reports, clinical series, and expert opinions few studies provide quantitative insight into RSI risk factors and their relative contributions to the overall RSI risk profile. Existing case-control studies lack the ability to reliably detect clinically important differences within the long list of proposed risks. This meta-analysis examines the best available data for RSI risk factors, seeking to provide a clinically relevant risk stratification system. METHODS: Nineteen candidate studies were considered for this meta-analysis. Three retrospective, case-control studies of RSI-related risk factors contained suitable group comparisons between patients with and without RSI, thus qualifying for further analysis. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 2.0 (BioStat, Inc, Englewood, NJ) software was used to analyze the following "common factor" variables compiled from the above studies: body-mass index, emergency procedure, estimated operative blood loss >500 mL, incorrect surgical count, lack of surgical count, >1 subprocedure, >1 surgical team, nursing staff shift change, operation "afterhours" (i.e., between 5 PM and 7 AM), operative time, trainee presence, and unexpected intraoperative factors. We further stratified resulting RSI risk factors into low, intermediate, and high risk. RESULTS: Despite the fact that only between three and six risk factors were associated with increased RSI risk across the three studies, our analysis of pooled data demonstrates that seven risk factors are significantly associated with increased RSI risk. Variables found to elevate the RSI risk include intraoperative blood loss >500 mL (odds ratio [OR] 1.6); duration of operation (OR 1.7); >1 subprocedure (OR 2.1); lack of surgical counts (OR 2.5); >1 surgical team (OR 3.0); unexpected intraoperative factors (OR 3.4); and incorrect surgical count (OR 6.1). Changes in nursing staff, emergency surgery, body-mass index, and operation "afterhours" were not significantly associated with increased RSI risk. CONCLUSIONS: Among the "common risk factors" reported by all three case-control studies, seven synergistically show elevated RSI risk across the pooled data. Based on these results, we propose a risk stratification scheme and issue a call to arms for large, prospective, and multicenter studies evaluating effects of specific changes at the institutional level (i.e., universal surgical counts, radiographic verification of the absence of RSI, and radiofrequency labeling of surgical instruments and sponges) on the risk of RSI. Overall, our findings provide a meaningful foundation for future patient safety initiatives and clinical studies of RSI occurrence and prevention.

Trends and Comparative Outcomes Between Operative Approaches for Segmentectomy in Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Segmentectomy is increasingly performed for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, comparative outcomes data between open, robotic-assisted (RATS) and video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) approaches are limited. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of NSCLC segmentectomy cases (2013-2021) from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons General Thoracic Surgery Database was performed. Baseline characteristics were balanced using inverse probability of treatment weighting and compared by operative approach. Volume trends, outcomes, and nodal upstaging were assessed. RESULTS: Of 9,927 segmentectomy patients, 84.8% underwent minimally invasive surgery (MIS), with RATS becoming the most common approach in 2019. Open segmentectomy is more likely performed at low-volume centers (p<0.0001), whereas RATS more likely high-volume centers (p<0.0001). VATS had higher open conversion rate than RATS (OR 11.8, CI [7.01-21.6], p<0.001). MIS had less 30-day morbidity compared to open segmentectomy (VATS OR 0.71 95% CI [0.55-0.94], p=0.013; RATS OR 0.59, CI [0.43-0.81], p=0.001). Number of nodes and stations harvested were highest for RATS, however N1 upstaging was more likely in open compared to RATS (OR 0.63, CI 0.45-0.89, p< 0.007) and VATS (OR 0.61, CI 0.46-0.83, p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Segmentectomy volume has increased considerably with RATS becoming the most common approach. MIS has less major morbidity compared to open segmentectomy with no difference between VATS and RATS. However, risk of open conversion is higher with VATS. RATS had increased nodal harvest whereas hilar nodal upstaging was highest with thoracotomy. This study reveals significant differences in outcomes exist between segmentectomy operative approach; the impact of approach on survival merits further investigation.

Wedge Resection vs Lobectomy for Clinical Stage IA Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer With Occult Lymph Node Disease.

BACKGROUND: Sublobar resection is increasingly performed for stage Ia non-small cell lung cancer, but pathologic lymph node upstaging remains a common clinical scenario. This study compares the long-term prognosis of patients with clinical stage Ia disease and occult lymph node disease undergoing wedge resection vs lobectomy. METHODS: The National Cancer Database was queried for patients treated with wedge resection or lobectomy for clinical stage Ia (cT1N0) non-small cell lung cancer and who were pathologically upstaged with either pN1/pN2 disease. Overall survival (OS) was compared by extent of resection using inverse probability treatment weighting-adjusted Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: Of 5437 clinical stage Ia patients included, 3408 (62.7%) were found to have occult pN1 and 2029 (37.3%) to have occult pN2. Of 5437 patients, 93.5% (5082) were treated with lobectomy and 6.5% (355) underwent wedge resection. Lobectomy was associated with improved OS compared with wedge resection for patients with occult pN1 disease (median OS, 70.0 months [95% CI, 66.6-77.4] vs 36.4 months [95% CI, 24.2-45.6]; P < .001) but not for pN2 disease (median OS, 48.2.1 months [95% CI, 43.8-52.9] vs 43.7 months [95% CI, 31.2-62.4]; P = 0.24). On inverse probability treatment weighting-adjusted multivariable analysis, adjusting for demographics, comorbidities, margin status, and pathologic T and N stage, lobectomy remained associated with improved survival (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.60-0.89; P = .0016). CONCLUSIONS: Lobectomy is associated with improved survival in clinical stage Ia non-small cell lung cancer patients with occult lymph node disease. These data may aid the decision for completion lobectomy for patients with unanticipated N1 lymph node upstaging.

Prevalence and Predictability of Occult Satellite Nodules in Clinical Stage Ia Non-small Cell Lung Cancer following Lobectomy.

INTRODUCTION: We sought to assess the prevalence and clinical predictors of satellite nodules in patients undergoing lobectomy for clinical stage Ia disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The National Cancer Database was queried for patients who underwent lobectomy for clinical stage cT1N0 NSCLC. Collaborative staging information was used to identify patients who were pathologically upstaged based on having separate tumor nodules in the same lobe as the primary tumor. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association of clinical factors with the detection of separate nodules. RESULTS: A separate tumor nodule was recorded in 2.8% (n = 1284) of 45,842 clinical stage Ia patients treated with lobectomy or bilobectomy. Female gender (3.1% vs. male 2.5%; P = .002) and non-squamous histology (adenocarcinoma 3.2% and large cell neuroendocrine 3.0% vs. squamous cell 1.9% tumors; P < .001) were associated with the presence of separate nodules. The frequency increased for tumors larger than 3 cm (≤ 3cm, 2.7% vs. > 3cm, 3.8%; P < .001). Other factors associated with separate nodules were upper lobe location, pleural and/or lymphovascular invasion and occult lymph node disease. The best predictive model for separate nodules based on the available clinical variables resulted in an area under the curve of 0.645 (95% CI 0.629-0.660). CONCLUSION: Separate tumor nodules may be detected with a low but relatively consistent frequency across the spectrum of patients with clinical stage Ia NSCLC. The predictive ability using basic clinical factors in the database is limited.

Intravascular retained surgical items: a multicenter study of risk factors.

INTRODUCTION: Retained surgical items (RSIs) have been previously studied in patients undergoing major surgical procedures. This is the first study that specifically examines potential risk factors for intravascular RSI (ivRSI). METHODS: Multicenter retrospective review of 83 RSIs was performed. Among these, 13 cases involved ivRSI. Cases in the ivRSI group were compared with a group of similar control cases to determine potential risk factors for ivRSI, including procedural factors (urgency and complicating factors), patient factors (body mass index), equipment failure (structural or functional), and safety variances. Fisher's exact testing was performed. RESULTS: Thirteen ivRSI cases and 14 controls were examined. There were no differences between the two groups with regard to age, gender, or body mass index. ivRSI items included guide wires (8/13), catheter/catheter fragments (4/13), and a coil (1/13). The incidence of unexpected procedural factors was significantly higher among ivRSI cases (10/13) than among controls (3/14) (P < 0.007). Equipment failure occurred in five ivRSI cases, with none among controls (P < 0.016). There were no differences between the two groups with regard to number of urgent procedures, bleeding >500 mL, evening procedures, or trainee involvement. Both groups had a very high proportion of safety variances (8 in ivRSI and 11 in control group, P = not significant). In addition, seven of 13 ivRSIs were missed on initial confirmatory postprocedural imaging. DISCUSSION: Unexpected procedural factors and equipment failure are significantly associated with ivRSI. Of concern, over half of all ivRSIs were missed on confirmatory postprocedural imaging. Strict adherence to established protocols and stringent radiographic review for intravascular procedures is required to prevent ivRSI.

Improving Provisioning of an Inpatient Portal: Perspectives from Nursing Staff.

BACKGROUND: Inpatient portals are recognized to provide benefits for both patients and providers, yet the process of provisioning tablets to patients by staff has been difficult for many hospitals. OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to identify and describe practices important for provisioning an inpatient portal from the perspectives of nursing staff and provide insight to enable hospitals to address challenges related to provisioning workflow for the inpatient portal accessible on a tablet. METHODS: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 210 nursing staff members across 26 inpatient units in six hospitals within The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) following the introduction of tablets providing access to an inpatient portal, MyChart Bedside (MCB). Interviews asked questions focused on nursing staffs' experiences relative to MCB tablet provisioning. Verbatim interview transcripts were coded using thematic analysis to identify factors associated with tablet provisioning. Unit provisioning performance was established using data stored in the OSUWMC electronic health record about provisioning status. Provisioning rates were divided into tertiles to create three levels of provisioning performance: (1) higher; (2) average; and (3) lower. RESULTS: Three themes emerged as critical strategies contributing to MCB tablet provisioning success on higher-performing units: (1) establishing a feasible process for MCB provisioning; (2) having persistent unit-level MCB tablet champions; and (3) having unit managers actively promote MCB tablets. These strategies were described differently by staff from the higher-performing units when compared with characterizations of the provisioning process by staff from lower-performing units. CONCLUSION: As inpatient portals are recognized as a powerful tool that can increase patients' access to information and enhance their care experience, implementing the strategies we identified may help hospitals' efforts to improve provisioning and increase their patients' engagement in their health care.

Evaluating the Efficacy of Two Regional Pain Management Modalities in Autologous Breast Reconstruction.

At our institution, multimodal opiate-sparing pain management is the cornerstone of our enhanced recovery program for autologous breast reconstruction. The purpose of this study was to compare postoperative outcomes and pain control metrics following implementation of an enhanced recovery program with two different regional analgesia approaches. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study identified 145 women who underwent autologous breast reconstruction from 2015 to 2017. Three groups were included: historical control patients (n = 46) and enhanced recovery patients that received multimodal pain management including a postoperative transversalis abdominis plane block with either a continuous local anesthetic catheter (n = 60) or a single-shot of liposomal bupivacaine (n = 39). The primary outcome was pain scores in the first three postoperative days. Secondary outcomes were opioid consumption in oral morphine equivalents and length of stay. RESULTS: Postoperative pain scores were similar across all three groups until postoperative day 3. Length of stay was significantly shorter in both of the enhanced recovery cohorts (3.0 [3.0, 4.0]) compared with control patients (4.0 [4.0, 5.0], P < 0.001). Likewise, average total oral morphine equivalents consumption was significantly reduced in enhanced recovery patients (continuous catheter 215.9 (95% CI, 165.4-266.3); liposomal bupivacaine 211.0 (95% CI, 154.8-267.2); control 518.4 (95% CI 454.2-582.7), P < 0.001). Neither length of stay (P = 0.953), nor oral morphine equivalents consumption (P = 0.883) differed by type of regional analgesia. CONCLUSION: Compared with control patients, both approaches to regional transversalis abdominis plane block analgesia as part of an opiate-sparing enhanced recovery pain management strategy were successful, but neither superior to the other.

Febrile Neutropenia: Decreasing Time to Antibiotic Administration in a Community Hospital Emergency Department.

Febrile neutropenia, a serious complication of cytotoxic chemotherapy, is an oncologic emergency associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Fever is often the only clinical sign of an underlying infection in neutropenic patients with cancer. Prompt treatment with empiric broad-spectrum antibiotics is crucial to ensuring best outcomes for patients; practice guidelines recommend antibiotic administration within one hour of fever onset. A quality improvement initiative to improve time to antibiotic administration among patients with febrile neutropenia presenting to a community hospital emergency department is described in this article.

Physical Activity: A Feasibility Study on Exercise in Men Newly Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) has been shown to improve patient-centered care for cancer-related symptoms, treatment-related side effects, and health-related quality of life. OBJECTIVES: This feasibility study aimed to explore PA preferences and changes in functional capacity and symptoms during a two-week self-prescribed PA intervention prior to treatment in men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer. METHODS: Men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer were recruited from a community hospital, part of an academic comprehensive cancer center in the southeastern United States. An individualized PA intervention prescription was developed using baseline measures. Baseline and two-week measures consisted of functional capacity, PA participation, and symptom impact. Descriptive statistics and t tests were used. FINDINGS: Thirteen men aged an average of 66.14 years (SD = 6.82) participated. Participants significantly improved functional capacity. Most common PAs were walking (n = 9) and yard work (n = 6).

Estimating the risk of conversion from video-assisted thoracoscopic lung surgery to thoracotomy-a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Understanding the risk of conversion from video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) to thoracotomy is important when considering patient selection and preoperative surgical risk assessment. This review aims to estimate the rate of intraoperative conversions to thoracotomy, predictive factors, and associated outcomes for VATS anatomic lung resections. METHODS: PubMed/MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched systematically in May of 2020. Observational studies examining conversions of VATS anatomic resections to thoracotomy were included. Conversion rates, causes, risk factors, and post-operative outcomes were reviewed and analyzed in aggregate. RESULTS: Twenty retrospective studies were reviewed, with a total of 72,932 patients undergoing VATS anatomic lung resection. The median conversion rate was 9.6% (95% CI: 6.6-13.9%). Nine studies reported a total of 114 emergency conversions, with a median incidence rate of 1.3% (95% CI: 0.6-2.8%). The most common reasons for thoracotomy were vascular injury/bleeding, difficulty lymph node dissection, and adhesions, accounting for 27.9%, 26.2% and 19% of conversions, respectively. Risk factors for conversion varied, but frequently included nodal disease, large tumors, and induction therapy. The risk of complications (OR 2.06; 95% CI: 1.77-2.40) and mortality (OR 4.11; 95% CI: 1.59-10.61) were significantly increased following conversions. There was also a significant increase in chest tube duration and length of stay following conversion. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of conversion to thoracotomy may be as high as one in ten patients undergoing VATS anatomic lung resections, but may vary significantly based on patient selection. Although emergent conversions are rare, the need for thoracotomy may significantly increase postoperative morbidity and mortality.

Room Traffic in Orthopedic Surgery: A Prospective Clinical Observational Study of Time of Day.

OBJECTIVE: High rates of operating room (OR) traffic may contribute to surgical air contamination and surgical site infections (SSIs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate room traffic patterns in orthopedic implant procedures to determine the frequency of door openings and if time of day had an effect on room traffic. METHODS: In 2015, OR traffic was assessed in orthopedic implant cases. Room traffic was reported as the number of door openings per minute. Counts of how many people were present in the operating room were noted in 5-minute intervals from the time of sterile case opening to dressing placement. Operative cases were observed and categorized into 3 periods (6:00-9:59, 10:00-13:59, and 14:00-17:59) to assess if time of day affected room traffic. RESULTS: Forty-six cases were observed for the present study. Among all cases, the mean room traffic rate was 35.2 openings per hour (SD, 10; range, 13.2-60.8). One-way analysis of variance revealed no statistically significant difference among groups (6:00-9:59 [n = 29], 10:00-13:59 [n = 10], and 14:00-17:59 [n = 7]) as it relates door openings per minute (room traffic rate) (P = 0.9237) or mean number of people in the OR (P = 0.3560). Pearson correlation revealed no correlation between case start time and room traffic rates (P = 0.6129, r2 = 0.0059) or between case start time and mean number of people in the OR (P = 0.3435, r2 = 0.0214). CONCLUSIONS: Room traffic rates and mean number of people in the OR do not correlate with time of day of case in orthopedic implant procedures.

Early Postoperative Functional Assessment Predicts Non-Home Discharge After Pulmonary Lobectomy.

BACKGROUND: Non-home hospital disposition is an important patient-centric quality measure, and is increasingly tied to reimbursements. We sought to determine the value of early postoperative functional assessment to predict non-home discharge. METHODS: Patients undergoing elective pulmonary lobectomy between May 2017 and December 2018 were identified from The Society of Thoracic Surgery database at a single institution. Early postoperative functional assessment using the Boston University Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC) basic mobility short form was routinely performed by the inpatient rehabilitation services. The association of baseline patient characteristics and AM-PAC scores with nonhospital discharge was analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 241 patients (median age 65 years, 59% female) underwent lobectomy. First postoperative functional assessment was performed at a median of 1 day (interquartile range, 1 to 2) after surgery. Median AM-PAC score was 18 (interquartile range, 17 to 19), correlating to a 47% functional impairment in daily activities. Thirteen patients (5.4%) were discharged to an extended care facility instead of home. Non-home discharge was more commonly observed for patients of older age or with prior history of stroke. First postoperative AM-PAC score was able to discriminate hospital disposition (area under the curve 0.714; 95% confidence interval, 0.594 to 0.834; P = .009). Adjusted for patient factors and performance status, first postoperative AM-PAC score was independently associated with non-home discharge (odds ratio 0.54, 95% confidence interval, 0.36 to 0.81; P = .003). CONCLUSIONS: Early postoperative functional impairment assessment using AM-PAC may be useful to predict non-hospital discharge after pulmonary lobectomy. Attention to these factors may be used to aid early disposition planning, and adjust preventative strategies.