Establishing and maintaining a remote vascular surgery aortic program: A single-center 5-year experience at the Veterans Affairs.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to detail the process of establishing a surgical aortic telehealth program and report the outcomes of a 5-year experience. METHODS: A telehealth program was established between two regional Veterans Affairs hospitals, one of which was without a comprehensive aortic surgical program, until such a program was established at the referring institution. A retrospective review was performed of all patients who underwent aortic surgery from 2014 to 2019. The operative data, demographics, perioperative complications, and follow-up data were reviewed. RESULTS: From 2014 to 2019, 109 patients underwent aortic surgery for occlusive and aneurysmal disease. Preoperative evaluation and postoperative follow-up were done remotely via telehealth. The median age of the patients was 68 years, 107 were men (98.2%), 28 (25.7%) underwent open aortic repair, and 81 (74.3%) underwent endovascular repair. Of the 109 patients, 101 (92.7%) had a median follow-up of 24.3 months, 5 (4.6%) were lost to follow-up or were noncompliant, 2 (1.8%) were noncompliant with their follow-up imaging studies but responded to telephone interviews, and 1 (0.9%) moved to another state. At the 30-day follow-up, eight patients (7.3%) required readmission. Four complications were managed locally, and four patients (3.6%) required transfer back to the operative hospital for additional care. CONCLUSIONS: Telehealth is a great tool to provide perioperative care and long-term follow-up for patients with aortic pathologies in remote locations. Most postoperative care and complications can be managed remotely, and patient compliance for long-term follow-up is high.

Utilization of lean project management principles and health informatics to reduce operating room delays in a vascular surgery practice.

OBJECTIVES: Perioperative inefficiency can increase cost. We describe a process improvement initiative that addressed preoperative delays on an academic vascular surgery service. METHODS: First case vascular surgeries from July 2019-January 2020 were retrospectively reviewed for delays, defined as late arrival to the operating room (OR). A stakeholder group spearheaded by a surgeon-informaticist analyzed this process and implemented a novel electronic medical records (EMR) preoperative tool with improved preoperative workflow and role delegation; results were reviewed for 3 months after implementation. RESULTS: 57% of cases had first case on-time starts with average delay of 19 min. Inappropriate preoperative orders were identified as a dominant delay source (average delay = 38 min). Three months post-implementation, 53% of first cases had on-time starts with average delay of 11 min (P < 0.05). No delays were due to missing orders. CONCLUSIONS: Inconsistent preoperative workflows led to inappropriate orders and delays, increasing cost and decreasing quality. A novel EMR tool subsequently reduced delays with projected savings of $1,200/case. Workflow standardization utilizing informatics can increase efficiency, raising the value of surgical care.

A statewide quality improvement collaborative significantly improves quality metric adherence and physician engagement in vascular surgery.

BACKGROUND: Quality improvement national registries provide structured, clinically relevant outcome and process-of-care data to practitioners-with regional meetings to disseminate best practices. However, whether a quality improvement collaborative affects processes of care is less clear. We examined the effects of a statewide hospital collaborative on the adherence rates to best practice guidelines in vascular surgery. METHODS: A large statewide retrospective quality improvement database was reviewed for 2013 to 2019. Hospitals participating in the quality improvement collaborative were required to submit adherence and outcomes data and meet semiannually. They received an incentive through a pay for participation model. The aggregate adherence rates among all hospitals were calculated and compared. RESULTS: A total of 39 hospitals participated in the collaborative, with attendance of surgeon champions at face-to-face meetings of >85%. Statewide, the hospital systems improved every year of participation in the collaborative across most "best practice" domains, including adherence to preoperative skin preparation recommendations (odds ratio [OR], 1.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.76-1.79; P < .001), intraoperative antibiotic redosing (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.02-1.17; P = .018), statin use at discharge for appropriate patients (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.16-1.2; P < .001), and reducing transfusions for asymptomatic patients with hemoglobin >8 mg/dL (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.66-0.66; P < .001). The use of antiplatelet therapy at discharge remained high and did not change significantly during the study period. Teaching hospital and urban or rural status did not affect adherence. The adherence rates exceeded the professional society mean rates for guideline adherence. CONCLUSIONS: The use of a statewide hospital collaborative with incentivized semiannual meetings resulted in significant improvements in adherence to "best practice" guidelines across a large, heterogeneous group of hospitals.

Inpatient consultations with the vascular and endovascular surgery team at an academic tertiary hospital / Interconsultas realizadas pela equipe de cirurgia vascular e endovascular em um hospital universitário terciário

ABSTRACT Background Inpatient consultations are a fundamental component of practice in tertiary care centers. However, such consultations demand resources, generating a significant workload. Objectives To investigate the profile of inpatient consultations requested by other specialties and provided by the Vascular and Endovascular Surgery team at an academic tertiary hospital. Methods Prospective observational study. Results From May 2017 to May 2018, 223 consultations were provided, representing 2.2% of the workload. Most consultations were requested by Oncology (16.6%), Hematology (9.9%), Nephrology (9.0%), and Cardiology (6.3%). The leading reasons for inpatient consultation were: need for vascular access (51.1%) and requests to evaluate a vascular disease (48.9%). Acute venous diseases accounted for 19.3% of consultations, chronic arterial diseases for 14.8%, acute arterial diseases for 7.2%, diabetic feet for 5.4%, and chronic venous diseases accounted for 2.2%. Surgical treatment was performed in 57.0%, either conventional (43.9%) or endovascular (13.0%). Almost all (98.2%) patients' issues were resolved. Conclusions Inpatient consultations with the Vascular and Endovascular Surgery team in a tertiary academic hospital accounted for 2.2% of the team's entire workload. Most patients were elective and underwent low-complexity elective surgical procedures. There may be an opportunity to improve healthcare, redirecting these patients to the outpatient flow.

RESUMO Introdução Interconsultas são um componente fundamental da prática clínica em centros de atendimento terciários. No entanto, esse tipo de consulta requer recursos, resultando em uma alta carga de trabalho. Objetivo Investigar o perfil das interconsultas solicitadas por outros departamentos e realizadas pela equipe de Cirurgia Vascular e Endovascular em um hospital universitário terciário. Métodos Estudo observacional prospectivo. Resultados De maio de 2017 a maio de 2018, foram realizadas 223 consultas, correspondendo a 2,2% da carga de trabalho. A maioria das consultas foram solicitadas pelos departamentos de Oncologia (16,6%), Hematologia (9,9%), Nefrologia (9,0%) e Cardiologia (6,3%). As principais razões das interconsultas foram a necessidade de acesso vascular (51,1%) e de avaliação de doenças vasculares (48,9%). As doenças venosas agudas corresponderam a 19,3% das avaliações; as doenças arteriais crônicas, a 14,8%; as doenças arteriais agudas, a 7,2%; o pé diabético, a 5,4%; e as doenças venosas crônicas corresponderam a 2,2%. Foi realizado tratamento cirúrgico em 57,0% dos casos, tanto convencional (43,9%) quanto endovascular (13,0%). Foram resolvidos os problemas de quase todos os pacientes (98,2%). Conclusão As interconsultas realizadas pela equipe de Cirurgia Vascular e Endovascular em um hospital universitário terciário corresponderam a 2,2% da carga de trabalho total. A maioria dos pacientes eram eletivos e foram submetidos a procedimentos cirúrgicos eletivos de baixa complexidade. O redirecionamento desses pacientes para o atendimento ambulatorial poderia auxiliar na melhoria dos serviços de saúde.

The initial experience and response of vascular surgeons in Michigan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The unprecedented pandemic spread of the novel coronavirus has severely impacted the delivery of healthcare services in the United States and around the world, and has exposed a variety of inefficiencies in healthcare infrastructure. Some states have been disproportionately affected such as New York and Michigan. In fact, Detroit and its surrounding areas have been named as the initial Midwest epicenter where over 106,000 cases have been confirmed in April 2020. METHOD, RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Facilities in Southeast Michigan have served as the frontline of the pandemic in the Midwest and in order to cope with the surge, rapid, and in some cases, complete restructuring of care was mandatory to effect change and attempt to deal with the emerging crisis. We describe the initial experience and response of 4 large vascular surgery health systems in Michigan to COVID-19.

Lessons Learned from the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Vascular Surgery Department and Preparation for Future Outbreaks.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to report the changes and adaptations of a vascular tertiary center during a global pandemic and the impact on its activity and patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study within the Vascular Surgery ward in Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte, Portugal. All data from surgical, inpatient and outpatient activity were collected from February to June 2020 and compared to the same 5-month period in 2018 and 2019. We ran a descriptive analysis of all data and performed statistical tests for the variation of procedures and admissions between February and June 2018 and the same time period in 2020. RESULTS: During the outbreak, our staff had to be readapted. Six nurses were transferred to COVID-19 units (out of a total of 33 nurses) while 1 of the 7 residents was transferred to an intensive care unit and 1 senior surgeon was put on prophylactic leave. In the outpatient clinic, there was an increase in the number of telemedicine consultations with a greater focus on first-time referrals and urgent cases. There was a significant increase in the total number of elective admissions whereas there were significantly less admissions from an emergency setting (+57% and -54%, respectively, P < 0.001). The vascular surgery team performed a total number of 584 procedures between February and June 2020 (-17.8% compared to 2018 and 2019), with a significant increase in the number of endovascular procedures (P < 0.001) and in the use of local and regional anesthesia (P < 0.001), especially in the Angio Suite (+600%, P < 0.001). Comparing with 2018 and 2019, the surgical team performed less outpatient procedures in early 2020. We reported a significant increase in the total number of procedures for patients with a chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) diagnosis (+21%, P < 0.001). We did not report significant changes in the proportion of other vascular conditions. Regarding mortality, we observed a 16% decrease in the intraoperative mortality (P 0.67). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we assessed the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in daily activity during the contingency period. During the outbreak, there was an overall decline in outpatient clinics and inpatient admissions. Nevertheless, and despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and health authorities, we managed to maintain most procedures for most vascular diseases, particularly for CLTI urgent cases, without a significant increase in the mortality rate. Stringent protective measures for patient and staff or higher use of endovascular techniques and local anesthesia are some of the successful changes implemented in the department. These learned lessons are to be pursued as the pandemic evolves with future outbreaks of COVID-19, such as the current second outbreak currently spreading through Europe.

Ensuring equity, diversity, and inclusion in the Society for Vascular Surgery: A report of the Society for Vascular Surgery Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion represent interconnected goals meant to ensure that all individuals, regardless of their innate identity characteristics, feel welcomed and valued among their peers. Equity is achieved when all individuals have equal access to leadership and career advancement opportunities as well as fair compensation for their work. It is well-known that the unique backgrounds and perspectives contributed by a diverse workforce strengthen and improve medical organizations overall. The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) is committed to supporting the highest quality leadership, patient care, surgical education, and societal recommendations through promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the SVS. The overarching goal of this document is to provide specific context and guidance for enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the SVS as well as setting the tone for conduct and processes beyond the SVS, within other national and regional vascular surgery organizations and practice settings.

Update on workforce diversity in vascular surgery.

OBJECTIVE: Creating a diverse workforce is paramount to the success of the surgical field. A diverse workforce allows us to meet the health needs of an increasingly diverse population and to bring new ideas to spur technical innovation. The purpose of this study was to assess trends in workforce diversity within vascular surgery (VS) and general surgery (GS) as compared with orthopedic surgery (OS)-a specialty that instituted a formal diversity initiative over a decade ago. METHODS: Data on the trainee pool for VS (fellowships and integrated residencies), GS, and OS were obtained from the U.S. Graduate Medical Education reports for 1999 through 2017. Medical student demographic data were obtained from the Association of American Medical Colleges U.S. medical school enrollment reports. The representation of surgical trainee populations (female, Hispanic, and black) was normalized by their representation in medical school. We also performed the χ2 test to compare proportions of residents over dichotomized time periods (1999-2005 and 2013-2017) as well as a more sensitive trend of proportions test. RESULTS: The proportion of female trainees increased significantly between the time periods for the three surgical disciplines examined (P < .001). Hispanic trainees also represented an increasing proportion of all three disciplines (P ≤ .001). The proportion of black trainees did not significantly change in any discipline between the two periods. Relative to their proportion in medical school, Hispanic trainees were well represented in all surgical specialties studied (normalized ratio [NR], 0.95-1.52: 0.95 OS, 1.00 GS, 1.53 VS fellowship, and 1.23 VS residency). Compared with their representation in medical school, women were under-represented as surgical trainees (NR: 0.32 OS, 0.82 GS, 0.56 VS fellowship, and 0.78 VS residency) as were black trainees (NR: 0.63 OS, 0.90 GS, 0.99 VS fellowship, and 0.81 VS residency). CONCLUSIONS: Although there were significant increases in the number of women and Hispanic trainees in these three surgical disciplines, only Hispanic trainees enter the surgical field at a rate higher than their proportion in medical school. The lack of an increase in black trainees across all specialties was particularly discouraging. Women and black trainees were under-represented in all specialties as compared with their representation in medical school. The data presented suggest potential problems with recruitment at multiple levels of the pipeline. Particular attention should be paid to increasing the pool of minority medical school graduates who are both interested in and competitive for surgical specialties.

Demographic and professional profile of Brazilian women in vascular surgery: final results / Perfis demográfico e profissional de mulheres brasileiras na cirurgia vascular: resultados finais

Abstract Background Gender diversity in health teams is associated with better productivity. As women's participation in surgery has been growing, it is important to improve knowledge about the elements that guide their professional development. Objectives The aim of this study was to outline the demographic and professional features of female vascular surgeons in Brazil. Methods A cross-sectional study was designed, in which a questionnaire was made available online for 60 days. Invitations to participate were distributed by institutional e-mail sent from the Brazilian Society of Angiology and Vascular Surgery (SBACV) to associate women surgeons. Results are presented as numbers and percentages. Odds ratios and chi-square tests were used for analysis. Results From a total of 810 invitations sent out, 281 questionnaires were completed. The most prevalent age groups were 25-35 years (n = 115) and 36-45 years (n = 114). Among those who worked exclusively in the private sector, 79.8% had at least one board certification (OR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.65-0.89; p = 0.001). Regarding workload distribution, 64.4% and 34.2% reported that they spend more time in the clinic and hospital, respectively. Respondents with more years of experience reported a predominance of office practice (p = 0.002). Although 67.3% (n = 189) had published scientific papers, 68% (n = 191) had never held leadership roles. Conclusions The study respondents consisted of highly qualified women surgeons with respect to training, certification, and scientific engagement, but they remain underrepresented in professional management positions. Surgical societies and health institutions should act to promote inclusive and diverse leadership.

Resumo Contexto A diversidade de gênero em equipes médicas está associada a uma melhor produtividade. Com o aumento da participação feminina na cirurgia, é importante conhecer melhor os elementos que orientam o desenvolvimento dessas profissionais. Objetivos Delinear as características demográficas e profissionais das cirurgiãs vasculares no Brasil. Métodos Estudo de caráter transversal, em que foi disponibilizado um questionário on-line por 60 dias. O convite foi enviado pelo e-mail institucional da Sociedade Brasileira de Angiologia e Cirurgia Vascular (SBACV) às cirurgiãs associadas. Os resultados são apresentados como números e porcentagens. Os testes de odds ratio (OR) e do qui-quadrado foram utilizados para a análise. Resultados De 810 convites enviados, 281 questionários foram respondidos. Os grupos etários predominantes foram 25-35 anos (n = 115) e 36-45 anos (n = 114). Entre as que trabalhavam exclusivamente no setor privado, 79,8% possuíam ao menos um Título de Especialista (OR: 0,76; intervalo de confiança de 95% 0,65-0,89; p = 0,001). Em relação à distribuição da carga horária, 64,4% e 34,2% relataram que passavam mais tempo no ambulatório e no hospital, respectivamente. Entre as com mais anos de experiência, houve predomínio da prática em consultório (p = 0,002). Embora 67,3% (n = 189) tenham publicado artigos científicos, 68% (n = 191) nunca ocuparam cargos de liderança. Conclusões As participantes do estudo consistiram em cirurgiãs altamente qualificadas em relação a treinamento, certificação e engajamento científico. No entanto, permanecem pouco representadas em cargos de gestão profissional. As sociedades cirúrgicas e as instituições de saúde devem agir para promover uma liderança inclusiva e diversa.

Improving staff safety with checklists during novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic: A quasi-experiment study in vascular surgical department.

Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan in December 2019, has spread in many countries affected people globally. In response to the economic requirement of the nation and meet the need of patient's, a momentous event was going back to work step by step as fighting against COVID-19. Safety in clinical work is of priority as elective surgery in the department of surgery progressing. We used checklists based on our experiences on COVID-19 control and reality of clinical work from February to March in the West China Hospital, involving events of screening patient, chaperonage, and healthcare workers. Checklist summarized the actual clinical nursing work and management practices, hope to provide a reference for the order of surgery during the epidemic prevention and control, and standardize the clinical nursing work of surgery during pandemic.

Adapting Vascular Surgery Practice to the Current COVID-19 Era at a Tertiary Academic Center in Madrid.

BACKGROUND: The epidemic potential of coronavirus infection is now a reality. Since the first case detected in late 2019 in China, a fast worldwide expansion confirms it. The vascular patient is at a higher risk of developing a severe form of the disease because of its nature associating several comorbid states, and thus, some vascular surgery communities from many countries have tried to stratify patients into those requiring care during these uncertain times. METHODS: This is an observational study describing the current daily vascular surgery practice at one tertiary academic hospital in Madrid region, Spain-one of the most affected regions worldwide due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We analyzed our surgical practice since March 14th when the lockdown was declared up to date, May 14th (2 months). Procedural surgical practice, organizational issues, early outcomes, and all the troubles encountered during this new situation are described. RESULTS: Our department is composed of 10 vascular surgeons and 4 trainees. Surgical practice has been reduced to only urgent care, totaling 50 repairs on 45 patients during the period. Five surgeries were performed on 3 COVID-19-positive patients. Sixty percent were due to critical limb ischemia, 45% of them performed by complete endovascular approach, whereas less than 10% of repairs were aorta related. We were allocated to use a total of 5 surgical rooms in different locations, none our usual, as it was converted into an ICU room while performing 50% of those repairs with unusual nursery staff. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 outbreak has dramatically changed our organization and practice in favor of urgent or semiurgent surgical care alone. The lack of in-hospital/ICU beds and changing nursery staff changed the whole availability organization at our hospital and was a key factor in surgical decision-making in some cases.

Co-Operative Vascular Intervention Disease (COVID) Team of Greater Philadelphia.

We established the Co-Operative Vascular Intervention Disease (COVID) Team of Greater Philadelphia because national guidelines may not apply to different geographic areas of the United States owing to varying penetrance of the virus. On April 10, 2020, a 10-question survey regarding issues and strategies dealing with COVID-19 was e-mailed to 58 vascular surgeons (VSs) in the Greater Philadelphia area. Fifty-four VSs in 18 surgical groups covering 28 hospitals responded. All groups accepted transfers because of continued availability of intensive care unit beds. Thirteen groups were asked to "redeploy" if the need arose to function outside of the usual duties of a VS. None imposed age restrictions regarding older VSs continuing clinical hospital work. The majority restricted noninvasive vascular laboratory studies to those studies for which findings might mandate intervention within 2 or 3 weeks, restricted dialysis access operations to urgent revisions of arteriovenous fistulas or grafts that were failing or had ulcerations, converted from in-person to telemedicine clinic interactions, and experienced moderate-severe anxiety or fear about personal COVID-19 exposure in the hospital. The majority of VSs in the Philadelphia area dramatically adjusted their clinical practices before the COVID-19 crisis reached peak levels experienced in other metropolitan areas.

Vascular Nursing and Vascular Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Patients requiring vascular surgery have turned in older subjects with several comorbidities with frailty problems and increased vulnerability. Treating this kind of patients has become an important challenge both for vascular surgeons and for dedicated nurses, as these patients are more susceptible to postoperative complications and during discharge. The aim of this review is to analyze the role of vascular nurse in vascular surgery activities. METHODS: For this study, Medline, ScienceDirect, and Scopus databases were searched. The following keywords were used: nursing and vascular surgery, nursing and vascular disease, nursing and vascular procedure, and care and vascular patient. RESULTS: From the search strategy, the following areas were identified as relevant and analyzed in detail: vascular disease related to vascular surgery, the definition of vascular nursing, the role of vascular nursing in implementing clinical pathways in vascular surgery procedures, nursing postoperative care in vascular surgery, frailty assessment in vascular patient, nursing in phlebology and wound care, and the management of vascular access. CONCLUSIONS: Vascular nursing is a discipline that is able to provide comprehensive and optimal care, better postoperative outcomes, and coordinated, standardized, and cost-effective clinical pathways for patients managed in the area of vascular surgery.

Strategy for treating vascular emergencies during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Coronavirus-caused pneumonia (COVID-19) broke out in December 2019. The virus soon proved to be extremely contagious and caused an international pandemic. Clinicians treating COVID-19 patients face considerable danger of occupational exposure because of the highly infectious nature of the virus, and precautions must be taken to prevent medical staff infections. This article lists important measures that may save the lives of patients and medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and help stop the transmission of COVID-19 on hospital grounds. The suggestions include establishing detailed infection control and prevention protocols in the operating room; expediting testing procedures and patient screening for COVID-19; using case-specific treatment planning for vascular patients with COVID-19, favoring minimally invasive methods; and establishing and reinforcing protective awareness of medical personnel.