Overlapping Surgery Verbiage in Informed Consent Documents.

OBJECTIVE: To assess informed consent documents from United States (US) institutions for verbiage regarding overlapping surgery. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Overlapping surgery remains a controversial practice. Recent guidance from the Senate Finance Committee and American College of Surgeons emphasizes transparency with patients regarding this practice through the informed consent process, but it remains unclear how many institutions adopted their recommendations. METHODS: Informed consent documents were collected from a national sample of 104 institutions and assessed for verbiage regarding overlapping surgery and/or attending absence during a surgical case. The verbiage of these forms was further analyzed for inclusion of key terms (e.g., "overlapping surgery," "critical portions") as well as transparency regarding surgeon absence. RESULTS: Thirty (29%) forms included verbiage regarding overlapping surgery and/or surgeon absence during a case. Most of these 30 utilized the terms "overlapping surgery" or "critical portions" (18 [60%] and 25 [83%], respectively), although only 3 (10%) explicitly stated that portions of the procedure that may be performed in the absence of the attending surgeon. Six forms (20%) specifically stated who may perform the procedure without the attending present, and 3 forms (10%) had patients acknowledge this section of the consent form with an additional signature or initial. Only 2 of the forms (7%) fulfilled all of the criteria set forth by the SFC. CONCLUSION: Detailed information regarding overlapping surgery is infrequently included in hospitals' procedure informed consent documents. Forms that include this information rarely provide explicit statements of attending presence and trainee participation, raising concerns regarding surgeon-patient transparency.

Comparative Outcomes for Microvascular Free Flap Monitoring Outside the Intensive Care Unit.

OBJECTIVE: There is a trend towards nonintensive care unit (ICU) or specialty ward management of select patients. Here, we examine postoperative outcomes for patients transferred to a general ward following microvascular free flap (FF) reconstruction of the head and neck. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective quality control study. SETTING: Single tertiary care center. METHODS: Consecutive patients who underwent FF of the head and neck before and after a change in protocol from immediate postoperative monitoring in the ICU ("Pre-protocol") to the general ward setting ("Post-protocol"). Outcomes included overall length of stay (LOS), ICU LOS, FF compromise, and postoperative complications. RESULTS: A total of 150 patients were included, 70 in the pre-protocol group and 80 in the post-protocol group. There were no significant differences in age, sex, comorbidities, tumor stage, or type of FF. Mean LOS decreased from 8.18 to 7.68 days (P = .4), and mean ICU LOS decreased significantly from 5.2 to 1.7 days (P < .01). There were no significant differences in postoperative or airway-related complications (P = .6) or FF failure rate (2.9% vs 2.6%, P > .9). There was a non-significant increase in ancillary consults in the post-protocol group (45% vs 33%, P = .13) and a significant increase in rapid response team calls, a nurse-driven safety net for abnormal vitals or mental status (19% vs 3%, P = .003). CONCLUSION: We show the successful implementation of a protocol shifting care of FF patients from the ICU to a general ward postoperatively, suggesting management on the floor with less frequent flap monitoring is safe and conserves ICU beds. Additional teaching and familiarity with these patients may over time reduce the rapid response calls.

The association between motor and non-motor symptoms in essential tremor patients being evaluated for deep brain stimulation surgery.

BACKGROUND: Non-motor symptoms, including depression and cognitive impairment, are common in essential tremor (ET), but associations between these symptoms and tremor are poorly understood. METHODS: A retrospective, single-institution, cohort study evaluated 140 patients with ET undergoing evaluation for deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. The Fahn-Tolosa-Marin (FTM) or Washington Heights-Inwood Genetic Study of ET (WHIGET) scale was used to grade tremor. Tremor scores were divided into quartiles. Patients underwent clinical neuropsychological evaluations that included a comprehensive cognitive test battery and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Subgroup analysis was performed with groups who met criteria for depression (BDI-II > 14) or overall cognitive impairment (<9th percentile on at least two dissimilar cognitive tests). Independent samples t-tests were used for continuous variables and chi square tests for categorical variables. Univariable and multivariable regressions were used to determine relationships between tremor and non-motor scores. RESULTS: Tremor quartile was correlated with language domain performance (p = 0.044) but not depression scores. FTM score was associated with BDI-II (ß = 0.940, p = 0.010), language (ß = -0.936, p = 0.012), and visuospatial domain (ß = -0.836, p = 0.025) scores, such that worse tremor was associated with more depression and worse language and visuospatial function. WHIGET score was not associated with any neuropsychological scores on multivariable regression. CONCLUSION: FTM score was associated with language, visuospatial, and mood symptoms, suggesting a relationship between the severity of these symptom types. Different tremor scores capture different motor symptoms and relationships with nonmotor symptoms.