Health care and socioeconomic impact of falls in the elderly.

BACKGROUND: Elderly falls are associated with long hospital stays, major morbidity, and mortality. We sought to examine the fate of patients ≥75 years of age admitted after falls. METHODS: We reviewed all fall admissions in 2008. Causes, comorbidities, injuries, procedures, mortality, readmission, and costs were analyzed. RESULTS: Seven hundred eight patients ≥75 years old were admitted after a fall, with 89% being simple falls. Short-term mortality was 6%. Male sex, atrial fibrillation, acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure (CHF), intracranial hemorrhage, hospital-acquired pneumonia, trigger events, Clostridium difficile, and intubation were predictors of death (P < .05). Thirty-day readmission occurred in 14%; CHF, craniotomy, and acute renal failure were predictive. The median cost of hospitalization was $11,000 with cardiac disease, anemia, major orthopedic and neurosurgical procedures, pneumonia, and intubation as predictive. CONCLUSIONS: Simple falls in the elderly have high morbidity, mortality, and costs. Methodologies for prevention are warranted and should be studied intensively.

A policy-based intervention for the reduction of communication breakdowns in inpatient surgical care: results from a Harvard surgical safety collaborative.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and evaluate an intervention to reduce breakdowns in communication during inpatient surgical care. BACKGROUND: Communication breakdowns are the second most common cause of avoidable surgical adverse events after technical errors. METHODS: In a pre- and postintervention study, a random selection of patients on the surgical services of 4 teaching hospitals were observed according to 3 measures: (1) resident-attending communication of critical patient events (eg, transfer into the intensive care unit, unplanned intubation, cardiac arrest); (2) resident-attending notification regarding routine weekend patient status; and (3) frequency of weekend patient visits by an attending. All departments then developed and adopted a set of policy and education initiatives designed to increase prompt and consistent resident-attending communication (especially in critical events) and to improve regular attending visits with surgical patients. Specific reinforcement of the policies included a pocket information card for residents, as well as periodic reminders. Repeat audits of the surgical services were then conducted. RESULTS: We reviewed information for 211 critical events and 1360 patients for the nature of resident and attending communication practices. After the intervention, the proportion of critical events not conveyed to an attending decreased from 33% (26/80) to 2% (1/47), and gaps in the frequency of attending notification of patient status on weekends were virtually eliminated (P < 0.0001); the proportion of weekend patients not visited by an attending for greater than 24 hours decreased by half (from 61% to 33%; P = 0.0002). Contact resulted in attending-led changes in patient management in one-third of cases. CONCLUSIONS: An intervention to improve surgical communication practices at 4 teaching hospitals led to significant reductions in potentially harmful communication breakdowns during inpatient care; significant alterations in patient management were noted in one-third of cases in which there was an adherence to recommended communication practices.

Antiplatelet agents, warfarin, and epidemic intracranial hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation prophylaxis with warfarin and strong antiplatelet agent use in cardiovascular diseases has increased the incidence of anticoagulation in the elderly. We studied traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (TICH) in patients ≥55 years of age on anticoagulation and antiplatelet agents in a stable population. METHODS: We used a Level 1 Trauma Center registry study comparing TICH in patients on anticoagulation drugs during the index periods 1999 to 2000 (T1) and 2007 to 2008 (T2). RESULTS: A total of 526 TICH patients were seen in T1 and T2 (age, 77.6 vs 77.5 years; not significant [NS]), with the rate doubling from 6.2% to 12.3% of all trauma activations (P < .01). There was no increase in atrial fibrillation, warfarin use, or CHADS(2) scores in atrial fibrillation patients on anticoagulation therapy. TICH in patients taking antiplatelet agents increased 5-fold (2.2 % vs 10.3%; P < .01). Overall TICH mortality rate was the same (12.4% vs 12.2%, NS). TICH mortality among patients on therapeutic warfarin was greater in T1 (26%; P < .05), but mortality was similar to TICH in patients not on anticoagulants in T2 (19% vs 12.2%, NS), suggesting treatment improved. Prevalence and mortality of TICH in patients on antiplatelet agents were similar to TICH in patients on warfarin. CONCLUSION: TICH in patients on anticoagulants is epidemic in patients ≥55 years of age. Despite national trends, our well-served population has not seen an increase in warfarin use for atrial fibrillation. Instead, use of antiplatelet agents has increased and is associated with an increased incidence of TICH.

Improving the patient, family, and clinician experience after harmful events: the "when things go wrong" curriculum.

The emotional toll of medical error is high for both patients and clinicians, who are often unsure with whom-and whether-they can discuss what happened. Although institutions are increasingly adopting full disclosure policies, trainees frequently do not disclose mistakes, and faculty physicians are underprepared to teach communication skills related to disclosure and apology. The authors developed an interactive educational program for trainees and faculty physicians that assesses experiences, attitudes, and perceptions about error, explores the human impact of error through filmed patient and family narratives, develops communication skills, and offers a strategy to facilitate bedside disclosures. Between spring 2007 and fall 2008, 154 trainees (medical students/residents) and 75 medical educators completed the program. Among learners surveyed, 62% of trainees and 88% of faculty physicians reported making medical mistakes. Of those, 62% and 78%, respectively, reported they did not apologize. While 65% of trainees said they would turn to senior doctors for assistance after an error, 26% were not sure where to get help. Just 20% of trainees and 21% of physicians reported adequate training to respond to error. Following the session, all of the faculty physicians surveyed indicated they felt better prepared to address and teach this topic. At a time of increased attention to disclosure, actual faculty and trainee practices suggest that role models, support systems, and education strategies are lacking. Trainees' widespread experience with error highlights the need for a disclosure curriculum early in medical education. Educational initiatives focusing on communication after harm should target teachers and students.

Diagnostic, surgical judgment, and systems issues leading to reoperation: mining administrative databases.

BACKGROUND: Underreporting of surgical adverse events limits the ability to identify quality and safety issues. Automated screening of the clinical information system (CIS) can improve case capture and reduce dependency on self-reporting. We compared screening of a CIS to self-reporting for identifying unplanned reoperation and also examined the relationship between causality and probability of reporting. METHODS: Between 2005 and 2009, all unplanned reoperations identified by automated screening of databases were reviewed and classified according to causality. Comparison was made to cases self-reported to departmental morbidity and mortality; conditional probability analysis assessed the likelihood of reporting as a function of causality. RESULTS: Of 104,938 operations performed, automated CIS screening identified 1,010 cases requiring unplanned reoperation; 23.6% were self-reported to morbidity and mortality; the probability of reporting varied widely depending on causality. CONCLUSIONS: Screening of a CIS for adverse events requiring reoperation revealed significant underreporting, with additional bias in reporting based on underlying causality.

Communication practices on 4 Harvard surgical services: a surgical safety collaborative.

BACKGROUND: Communication breakdowns between surgical residents and attending physicians in the pre- and postoperative setting are common contributors to patient injury. These communication transactions might offer an opportunity for safety improvement, but it remains unknown how often resident-attending communication fails, what the current level of attending involvement is, and how often attending input changes the plan for patient care. We conducted a prospective study at 4 Harvard teaching hospitals to address these issues. METHODS: Three prospective data collection strategies were employed: (1) we randomly selected surgical services and queried residents for the occurrence of predefined critical patient events and the characteristics of attending communications that ensued, (2) on weekends, randomly selected patients were interviewed and their charts reviewed to identify the frequency of attending visitation and how such visits affected processes of care, and (3) on weekends, senior residents on randomly selected surgical services were queried regarding the occurrence of attending-resident discussion of patients in their care. RESULTS: Of 80 critical patient events identified, 26 (33%) were not communicated to attending surgeons. Residents reported that, when contacted, all attending physicians were receptive to communication, whether they were the primary surgeon or providing cross-coverage. Although residents felt that attending contact was unnecessary for safe patient care in 61 (76%) of these events, discussions with attending physicians changed management in 33% (18/54) of cases in which they occurred. Attending surgeons were found to visit their patients on randomly selected weekend days 42% (n = 37) of the time, while 21% (n = 19) had not visited for 2 or greater days. When attending physicians visited patients, however, resident management was modified 46% (n = 36) of the time. Though residents frequently discussed patient management with attending physicians on randomly selected weekends, they failed to do so 16% (n = 58) of the time, which appeared to be related to service-specific variation (chi = 269, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: In the context of both critical patient events and routine patient care, residents often fail to obtain attending surgeons' input for management decisions. These failures seem to derive more from residents' perception of necessity than from attending physicians' receptiveness or interest in being contacted. Once involved, attending physicians frequently modify resident's management decisions. It seems, therefore, that there is significant potential for communication failure and information loss among our 4 institutions.

The obesity paradox: body mass index and outcomes in patients undergoing nonbariatric general surgery.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine the effect of body mass index (BMI) on 30-day morbidity and mortality in a large cohort of patients undergoing nonbariatric general surgery. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Obesity has long been considered a risk factor for poor outcomes from a variety of surgical procedures, yet recent studies of critically and chronically ill patients suggest that overweight and obese patients may paradoxically have better outcomes than "normal" weight patients. METHODS: A prospective, multi-institutional, risk-adjusted cohort study of 118,707 patients undergoing nonbariatric general surgery who were included in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Participant Use database in 2005 and 2006 was performed. Outcomes and risk variables were compared across NIH-defined BMI class using analysis of variance, Bonferroni multiple comparisons of means tests, and multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: After adjusting for all significant perioperative risk factors, the risk of death according to BMI exhibited a reverse J-shaped relationship, with the highest rates in the underweight and morbidly obese extremes and the lowest rates in the overweight and moderately obese. Overweight (odds ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.75-0.99) and moderately obese (odds ratio, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.57-0.94) patients had a significantly lower risk of death than normal weight patients. There was a progressive increase in the likelihood of a complication with increasing BMI class, almost entirely due to increasing rates of wound infection. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight and moderately obese patients undergoing nonbariatric general surgery have paradoxically "lower" crude and adjusted risks of mortality compared with patients at a "normal" weight. This finding is in contrast to observations from the general population, confirming the existence of an "obesity paradox" in this patient population.

Framing family conversation after early diagnosis of iatrogenic injury and incidental findings.

BACKGROUND: Surgeons are rarely formally trained in giving bad news to patients. The aim of our study was to examine and compare techniques of disclosure of iatrogenic and incidental operative findings among surgical residents. METHODS: General surgery residents performed a laparoscopic cholecystectomy on the SurgicalSIM device in a mock operating room. Half (n = 8) were presented with a common bile duct injury, and half (n = 7) encountered metastatic gallbladder cancer during the operation. Both groups disclosed this information to a patient's scripted family member and completed a questionnaire. All encounters were videotaped and independently rated using a modified SPIKES protocol, a validated tool for delivering bad news. We compared disclosure of iatrogenic versus unexpected findings by year of training. Analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: Regardless of the year of training, more residents were comfortable with disclosure of an incidental finding than disclosure of an iatrogenic injury (47 vs. 33%). Senior residents (PGY4-PGY5) had better ratings by SPIKES (p < 0.05), most notably for tailoring disclosure to what patient and family understand, exploring patient and family expectations, and offering to answer any questions (p < 0.05). Even though all residents felt more comfortable with disclosure of an incidental finding, the quality of the disclosure by SPIKES score was the same for iatrogenic and incidental operative findings (p = NS). CONCLUSION: In general, trainees are ill prepared for delivering bad news. Disclosure of iatrogenic injuries was more challenging compared to that of incidental findings. Senior residents do better than junior residents at delivering bad news.

Building better teams in surgery.

This manuscript represents an overview of a presentation at the SSAT 49th annual meeting which describes the evolution of the author's work within surgery to build and advance teamwork into processes of care.

Impact of body mass index on perioperative outcomes in patients undergoing major intra-abdominal cancer surgery.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is an increasingly common serious chronic health condition. We sought to determine the impact of body mass index (BMI) on perioperative outcomes in patients undergoing major intra-abdominal cancer surgery. METHODS: A prospective, multi-institutional, risk-adjusted cohort study of patients undergoing major intra-abdominal cancer surgery was performed from the 14 university hospitals participating in the Patient Safety in Surgery Study of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP). Demographic, clinical, and intraoperative variables and 30-day morbidity and mortality were prospectively collected in standardized fashion. Analysis of variance, Bonferroni multiple comparisons of means tests, and multivariable logistic regression analysis were performed. RESULTS: We identified 2258 patients who underwent esophagectomy (n = 29), gastrectomy (n = 223), hepatectomy (n = 554), pancreatectomy (n = 699), or low anterior resection/proctectomy (n = 753). Patients were stratified by National Institutes of Health (NIH)-defined BMI obesity class, with 573 (25.4%) patients classified as obese (BMI > 30 kg/m(2)). There were no differences in mean work relative value units, total time of operation, or length of stay amongst the BMI classes. After adjusting for other risk factors, obesity was not a risk factor for death or major complications but was a risk factor for wound complications. The risk of postoperative death was greatest in underweight patients (odds ratio [OR] 5.24; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7-16.2). CONCLUSION: In patients undergoing major intra-abdominal cancer surgery, obesity is not a risk factor for postoperative mortality or major complications. Importantly, underweight patients have a fivefold increased risk of postoperative mortality, perhaps a consequence of their underlying nutritional status.

Design and impact of an intraoperative pathway: a new operating room model for team-based practice.

BACKGROUND: The concept of a team-based model for delivery of care has been critical at our institution for improving efficiency and safety. Despite these measures, difficulties continue to occur during lengthy operating room procedures. Using a novel team-based practice model, a multidisciplinary team was organized to improve efficiency in microsurgical breast reconstruction. We describe development of an intraoperative pathway for deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap breast reconstruction and its impact on various outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: We evaluated 150 patients who underwent DIEP flap breast reconstruction at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center from 2005 to 2008. Patient groups were subdivided into 50 unilateral and 50 bilateral procedures before the intraoperative pathway and 25 unilateral and 25 bilateral procedures after. Outcomes measured included operative time, complications, operating room and hospital costs, proper administration of prophylactic antibiotics and heparin, and staff satisfaction surveys. RESULTS: Mean operative times decreased after pathway implementation in both unilateral (8.2 hours to 6.9 hours; p < 0.001) and bilateral groups (12.8 hours to 10.6 hours; p < 0.001) and complication rates were unchanged. Mean operating room costs decreased in the unilateral group by 10.2% (p = 0.018). Prophylactic heparin administration showed substantial improvements, although antibiotic administration and redosing of antibiotics trended upward. Staff surveys showed improved interdisciplinary communication, transition guidelines, and enhanced efficiency through standardization. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of an intraoperative pathway led to improvements in operative time, cost, quality measures, and staff satisfaction. Refinement of the pathway with team resolution of variances might continue to improve outcomes. Complex, multi-team procedures can derive benefits from standardization and intraoperative pathway development.

Simulated laparoscopic operating room crisis: An approach to enhance the surgical team performance.

OBJECTIVE: Diminishing human error and improving patient outcomes is the goal of task training and simulation experience. The fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery (FLS) is a validated tool to assess technical laparoscopic skills. We hypothesize that performance in a crisis depends on technical skills and team performance. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a high-fidelity simulation model of a laparoscopic crisis scenario in a mock endosuite environment. METHODS: To establish the feasibility of the model as well as its face and construct validity, the scenario evaluated the performances of FLS-certified surgeon experts (n = 5) and non-FLS certified novices (n = 5) during a laparoscopic crisis scenario, in a mock endosuite, on a simulated abdomen. Likert scale questionnaires were used for validity assessments. Groups were compared using previously validated rating scales on technical and nontechnical performance. Objective outcome measures assessed were: time to diagnose bleeding (TD), time to inform the team to convert (TT), and time to conversion to open (TC). SAS software was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Median scores for face validity were 4.29, 4.43, 4.71 (maximum 5) for the FLS, non-FLS, and nursing groups, respectively, with an inter-rater reliability of 93%. Although no difference was observed in Veress needle safety and laparoscopic equipment set up, there was a significant difference between the two groups in their overall technical and nontechnical abilities (p < 0.05), specifically in identifying bleeding, controlling bleeding, team communication, and team skills. There was a trend towards a difference between the two groups for TD, TT, and TC. While experts controlled bleeding in a shorter time, they persisted longer laparoscopically. CONCLUSIONS: Our evidence suggests that face and construct validity are established for a laparoscopic crisis simulation in a mock endosuite. Technical and nontechnical performance discrimination is observed between novices and experts. This innovative multidisciplinary simulation aims at improving error/problem recognition and timely initiation of appropriate and safe responses by surgical teams.

On the quest for Six Sigma.

A review of patient safety from a surgical perspective with emphasis on erosion of hierarchy, human factors, and an institutional implementation of multidisciplinary team training to create highly effective dynamic teams. Suggestions include further opportunities to enhance patient safety in surgical patients.

A mesothelial cyst of the round ligament presenting as an inguinal hernia after gonadotropin stimulation for in vitro fertilization.

OBJECTIVE: To report the case of a round ligament cyst which, as the result of gonadotropin stimulation for IVF, simulated an incarcerated inguinal hernia. DESIGN: Case report. SETTING: A private infertility center and a university hospital. PATIENT(S): A 31-year-old woman who developed left lower quadrant pain after gonadotropin stimulation for IUI and a tender left inguinal mass after increasing ovarian stimulation for IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection. INTERVENTION(S): Surgical excision of a mesothelial cyst of the left round ligament and exploration of the left inguinal canal. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Successful surgical excision of left inguinal mass. RESULT(S): Resolution of symptoms. CONCLUSION(S): Mesothelial cysts of the round ligament should be included in the differential diagnosis of inguinal masses in women. Gonadotropin stimulation might cause previously unrecognized cysts to simulate an incarcerated inguinal hernia, necessitating surgical repair.