A reduction in hospital length of stay reduces costs for colorectal surgery: an economic evaluation of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program in Singapore.

PURPOSE: In 2017, the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) was introduced in the Department of Colorectal Surgery at Singapore General Hospital as a pilot quality improvement initiative. This study aimed to examine the cost-effectiveness of NSQIP by evaluating its effects on surgical outcomes, length of stay (LOS), and costs. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients undergoing colorectal surgery (2017-2020). Patients were divided into two cohorts: pre-NSQIP (2017-2018) and post-NSQIP (2019-2020). Outcomes evaluated were 30-day postoperative complications, LOS, and costs. Total cost-savings from NSQIP intervention's impact on LOS were estimated using a decision model with a one-way sensitivity analysis. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify factors for prolonged LOS. RESULTS: 1905 patients underwent colorectal surgery, with 996 in the pre-NSQIP cohort and 909 in the post-NSQIP cohort. A significant reduction in overall postoperative complications of 4.7% was observed in the post-NSQIP cohort (36.5% vs. 31.8%, p = 0.029). Patients in the post-NSQIP cohort had a shorter median LOS (8.0 vs. 6.0 days, p < 0.001). The implementation of NSQIP resulted in an 8.5% decrease in prolonged LOS > 6 days (p < 0.001), saving S$0.31 million on LOS. Total costs per case were reduced by 20.8% following NSQIP (S$39,539.05 vs. S$31,311.93, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Implementing NSQIP has significantly reduced overall postoperative complications, LOS, and costs and achieved cost savings following colorectal surgery.

Perception survey of crisis and emergency risk communication in an acute hospital in the management of COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore.

BACKGROUND: Emergency risk communication is a critical component in emergency planning and response. It has been recognised as significant for planning for and responding to public health emergencies. While there is a growing body of guidelines and frameworks on emergency risk communication, it remains a relatively new field. There has also been limited attention on how emergency risk communication is being performed in public health organisations, such as acute hospitals, and what the associated challenges are. This article seeks to examine the perception of crisis and emergency risk communication in an acute hospital in response to COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore and to identify its associated enablers and barriers. METHODS: A 13-item Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Survey, based on the US Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) CERC framework, was developed and administered to hospital staff during February 24-28, 2020. The survey also included an open-ended question to solicit feedback on areas of CERC in need of improvement. Chi-square test was used for analysis of survey data. Thematic analysis was performed on qualitative feedback. RESULTS: Of the 1154 participants who responded to the survey, most (94.1%) reported that regular hospital updates on COVID-19 were understandable and actionable. Many (92.5%) stated that accurate, concise and timely information helped to keep them safe. A majority (92.3%) of them were clear about the hospital's response to the COVID-19 situation, and 79.4% of the respondents reported that the hospital had been able to understand their challenges and address their concerns. Sociodemographic characteristics, such as occupation, age, marital status, work experience, gender, and staff's primary work location influenced the responses to hospital CERC. Local leaders within the hospital would need support to better communicate and translate hospital updates in response to COVID-19 to actionable plans for their staff. Better communication in executing resource utilization plans, expressing more empathy and care for their staff, and enhancing communication channels, such as through the use of secure text messaging rather than emails would be important. CONCLUSION: CERC is relevant and important in the hospital setting to managing COVID-19 and should be considered concurrently with hospital emergency response domains.

Association between preoperative anaemia and blood transfusion with long-term functional and quality of life outcomes amongst patients undergoing primary total knee arthroplasty in Singapore: a single-centre retrospective study.

PURPOSE: Preoperative anaemia affects up to one-third of patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and is associated with increased blood transfusion and prolonged hospitalisation. Prior studies have associated preoperative anaemia with poorer functional recovery after total hip arthroplasty. However, the association between preoperative anaemia and functional outcomes following TKA is unknown. We aim to determine whether preoperative anaemia and perioperative blood transfusion affect health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and functional outcomes following TKA. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 1994 patients who underwent primary unilateral TKA from 2013 to 2014 was performed. Anaemia was defined according to the World Health Organisation definition. Baseline and 6-month postoperative HRQoL was assessed with the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36), while function was assessed with Oxford Knee Score (OKS) and Knee Society Function Score (KSFS). Physical function (PF), role physical (RP), bodily pain (BP), social function (SF) and role emotional (RE) domains of SF-36, OKS and KSFS demonstrated significant change greater than the minimal clinically important difference between baseline and 6 months. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to identify predictors of 6-month scores. RESULTS: The incidence of preoperative anaemia was 22.3%. 4.3% of patients received blood transfusions. Preoperative anaemia and perioperative blood transfusion did not significantly affect SF-36, KSFS and OKS scores at 6 months postoperatively. Poor baseline SF-36, KSS and OKS scores and high BMI ≥ 37.5 kg/m2 are consistently associated with lower scores at 6 months. CONCLUSION: Preoperative anaemia and perioperative blood transfusion did not significantly affect HRQoL and functional outcomes following primary TKA. Poor baseline and obesity were associated with poorer outcomes.

Bonfils assisted double lumen endobronchial tube placement in an anticipated difficult airway.

The role of various airway adjuncts in the management of difficult airway has been described in the literature. Bonfils rigid fiberscope is one of the airway assist devices widely used for endotracheal intubation in the individuals with cervical instability warranting limited neck movements. With our experience in the utilization of Bonfils for single lumen endotracheal tube placement, we are increasingly using for double lumen endobronchial (DLT) intubation as well. We would like to describe our experience in the use of Bonfils for DLT placement and outline the merits and limitations of the other suitable airway assist devices in this report. The double lumen tube has to be modified by decreasing the length of DLT to accommodate the Bonfils fiberscope and this is applicable only in certain type of double lumen tubes for e.g. Bronchocath.

Assessment of predictive validity and feasibility of Edmonton Frail Scale in identifying postoperative complications among elderly patients: a prospective observational study.

Frailty is defined as diminished physiological reserve predisposing one to adverse outcomes when exposed to stressors. Currently, there is no standardized Frail assessment tool used perioperatively. Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS), which is validated for use by non-geriatricians and in selected surgical populations, is a candidate for this role. However, little evaluation of its use has been carried out in the Asian populations so far. This is a prospective observational study done among patients aged 70 years and above attended Preoperative Assessment Clinic (PAC) in Singapore General Hospital prior to major abdominal surgery from December 2017 to September 2018. The Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI) and Postoperative Morbidity Survey (POMS) were used to assess their postoperative morbidity respectively. Patient's acceptability of EFS was measured using the QQ-10 questionnaire and the inter-rater reliability of EFS was assessed by Kappa statistics and Bland Altman plot. The primary aim of this study is to assess if frailty measured by EFS is predictive of postoperative complications in elderly patients undergoing elective major abdominal surgery. We also aim to assess the feasibility of implementing EFS as a standard tool in the outpatient preoperative assessment clinic setting. EFS score was found to be a significant predictor of postoperative morbidity. (OR 1.35, p < 0.001) Each point increase in EFS score was associated with a 3 point increase in CCI score. (Coefficient b 2.944, p < 0.001) EFS score more than 4 has a fair predictability of both early and 30-day postoperative complications. Feasibility study demonstrated an overall acceptance of the EFS among our patients with good inter-rater agreement.

Achieving 100 percent compliance to perioperative antibiotic administration: a quality improvement initiative.

INTRODUCTION: Timely administration of prophylactic antibiotics within 60 minutes before surgical incision is important for reducing surgical site infections. This quality improvement initiative aimed to work towards achieving 100% compliance with perioperative antibiotic administration. METHODS: We examined the workflow in our Anaesthesia Information Management System (AIMS) and proposed interventions using cause-and-effect analysis of anonymised anaesthetic records from eligible surgical cases extracted from AIMS. This ultimately led to the implementation of an antibiotic pop-up reminder. The overall process was done in a few small plan-do-study-act cycles involving raising awareness, education and reorganisation of AIMS before implementation of the antibiotic pop-up reminder. Data analysis took place from August 2014 to September 2016. Compliance was defined as documented antibiotic administration within 60 minutes before surgical incision, or as documented reason for omission. RESULTS: The median monthly compliance rate, for 33,038 cases before and 28,315 cases after the reminder was implemented, increased from 67.0% at baseline to 94.5%. This increase was consistent and sustained for a year despite frequent personnel turnover. Documentation of antibiotic administration also improved from 81.7% to 99.3%, allowing us to identify and address novel problems that were initially not apparent, and resulting in several department recommendations. These included administering antibiotics later for cases with predicted longer-than-expected preparation times and bringing forward antibiotic administration in lower-segment Caesarean sections. CONCLUSION: The use of information technology and implementation of an antibiotic pop-up reminder on AIMS streamlined our work processes and brought us closer to achieving 100% on-time compliance with perioperative antibiotic administration.

Development of the Combined Assessment of Risk Encountered in Surgery (CARES) surgical risk calculator for prediction of postsurgical mortality and need for intensive care unit admission risk: a single-center retrospective study.

INTRODUCTION: Accurate surgical risk prediction is paramount in clinical shared decision making. Existing risk calculators have limited value in local practice due to lack of validation, complexities and inclusion of non-routine variables. OBJECTIVE: We aim to develop a simple, locally derived and validated surgical risk calculator predicting 30-day postsurgical mortality and need for intensive care unit (ICU) stay (>24 hours) based on routinely collected preoperative variables. We postulate that accuracy of a clinical history-based scoring tool could be improved by including readily available investigations, such as haemoglobin level and red cell distribution width. METHODOLOGY: Electronic medical records of 90 785 patients, who underwent non-cardiac and non-neuro surgery between 1 January 2012 and 31 October 2016 in Singapore General Hospital, were retrospectively analysed. Patient demographics, comorbidities, laboratory results, surgical priority and surgical risk were collected. Outcome measures were death within 30 days after surgery and ICU admission. After excluding patients with missing data, the final data set consisted of 79 914 cases, which was divided randomly into derivation (70%) and validation cohort (30%). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to construct a single model predicting both outcomes using Odds Ratio (OR) of the risk variables. The ORs were then assigned ranks, which were subsequently used to construct the calculator. RESULTS: Observed mortality was 0.6%. The Combined Assessment of Risk Encountered in Surgery (CARES) surgical risk calculator, consisting of nine variables, was constructed. The area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) in the derivation and validation cohorts for mortality were 0.934 (0.917-0.950) and 0.934 (0.912-0.956), respectively, while the AUROC for ICU admission was 0.863 (0.848-0.878) and 0.837 (0.808-0.868), respectively. CARES also performed better than the American Society of Anaesthesiologists-Physical Status classification in terms of AUROC comparison. CONCLUSION: The development of the CARES surgical risk calculator allows for a simplified yet accurate prediction of both postoperative mortality and need for ICU admission after surgery.

Anesthetic Management for Whole Lung Lavage in Patients with Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis.

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disorder characterized by the deposition of lipoproteinaceous materials in the bronchoalveolar tree. Whole lung lavage was introduced in the 1960s and remains a treatment of choice for PAP. The main anesthetic challenge of whole lung lavage is maintaining adequate oxygenation during the procedure. We describe 2 interesting patients with PAP, the anesthetic challenges faced during the lung lavage, and discuss the management strategies adopted in each case.

Can bariatric surgery be performed safely in patients with severe treatment-resistant asthma?

Obesity-associated severe asthma is a distinct phenotype characterised by resistance to standard asthma therapies. Bariatric surgery appears to be a viable alternative for those who have failed trials of traditional weight loss methods. However, anaesthetic and surgical risks are potential barriers. We describe three patients with treatment-resistant obesity-associated severe asthma who underwent bariatric surgery without complications due to the multidisciplinary perioperative planning and care involved in these complex cases. All three patients showed improvements in asthma control and reduction in maintenance medication use post-surgery.

Abnormal coagulation profile after hepatic resection: the effect of chronic hepatic disease and implications for epidural analgesia.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of chronic hepatic disease on postoperative coagulation. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Operating room with postoperative inpatient followup. MEASUREMENTS: The records of 153 patients who underwent elective open hepatic resection were reviewed. The perioperative coagulation profile of each patient was assessed. The postoperative period was subdivided into the early [postoperative day (POD) 0-3] and late (POD 4 - POD 7) periods. MAIN RESULTS: 68 (44.4%) patients had chronic hepatic disease and 50 (32.7%) had cirrhosis. Eighty-four (54.9%) patients had an abnormal early postoperative coagulation profile and 46 (30.1%) had an abnormal late postoperative coagulation profile. The proportion of patients having an abnormal coagulation profile peaked on POD 2, at 39.2%. Only 5.3% of patients had an abnormal coagulation profile on POD 7. The independent predictors of abnormal early and late postoperative coagulation profiles were preexisting hepatic cirrhosis [early: odds ratio (OR) 3.73(1.49 - 9.29), late: OR 6.84(2.11 - 22.21)], abnormal preoperative coagulation profile [early: OR 9.68 (1.97 - 47.5), late: OR 11.71 (3.61- 38.02)], major hepatic resection [early: OR 4.15 (1.66 - 10.4), late: OR 5.43 (1.68 - 17.47)], and intraoperative blood loss. CONCLUSIONS: An abnormal postoperative coagulation profile after hepatic surgery is common in a patient population with chronic hepatic disease.