Cancellation of Elective Surgery and Intensive Care Unit Capacity in New York State: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis.

BACKGROUND: In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, New York State ordered the suspension of all elective surgeries to increase intensive care unit (ICU) bed capacity. Yet the potential impact of suspending elective surgery on ICU bed capacity is unclear. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 5 years of New York State data on ICU usage. Descriptions of ICU utilization and mechanical ventilation were stratified by admission type (elective surgery, emergent/urgent/trauma surgery, and medical admissions) and by geographic location (New York metropolitan region versus the rest of New York State). Data are presented as absolute numbers and percentages and all adult and pediatric ICU patients were included. RESULTS: Overall, ICU admissions in New York State were seen in 10.1% of all hospitalizations (n = 1,232,986/n = 12,251,617) and remained stable over a 5-year period from 2011 to 2015. Among n = 1,232,986 ICU stays, sources of ICU admission included elective surgery (13.4%, n = 165,365), emergent/urgent admissions/trauma surgery (28.0%, n = 345,094), and medical admissions (58.6%, n = 722,527). Ventilator utilization was seen in 26.3% (n = 323,789/n = 1232,986) of all ICU patients of which 6.4% (n = 20,652), 32.8% (n = 106,186), and 60.8% (n = 196,951) was for patients from elective, emergent, and medical admissions, respectively. New York City holds the majority of ICU bed capacity (70.0%; n = 2496/n = 3566) in New York State. CONCLUSIONS: Patients undergoing elective surgery comprised a small fraction of ICU bed and mechanical ventilation use in New York State. Suspension of elective surgeries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may thus have a minor impact on ICU capacity when compared to other sources of ICU admission such as emergent/urgent admissions/trauma surgery and medical admissions. More study is needed to better understand how best to maximize ICU capacity for pandemics requiring heavy use of critical care resources.

[Quality of documentation of intraoperative and postoperative complications : improvement of documentation for a nationwide quality assurance program and comparison with routine data]. / Dokumentationsqualität intra- und postoperativer Komplikationen : Verbesserung der Dokumentation für die verpflichtende Qualitätssicherung und Vergleich mit DRG-Routinedaten.

INTRODUCTION: Complications after cholecystectomy are continuously documented in a nationwide database in Germany. Recent studies demonstrated a lack of reliability of these data. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of a control algorithm on documentation quality and the use of routine diagnosis coding as an additional validation instrument. METHODS: Completeness and correctness of the documentation of complications after cholecystectomy was compared over a time interval of 12 months before and after implementation of an algorithm for faster and more accurate documentation. Furthermore, the coding of all diagnoses was screened to identify intraoperative and postoperative complications. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The sensitivity of the documentation for complications improved from 46 % to 70 % (p = 0.05, specificity 98 % in both time intervals). A prolonged time interval of more than 6 weeks between patient discharge and documentation was associated with inferior data quality (incorrect documentation in 1.5 % versus 15 %, p < 0.05). The rate of case documentation within the 6 weeks after hospital discharge was clearly improved after implementation of the control algorithm. Sensitivity and specificity of screening for complications by evaluating routine diagnoses coding were 70 % and 85 %, respectively. The quality of documentation was improved by implementation of a simple memory algorithm.

Process-optimized operating room: implementation of an integrated OR system into clinical routine.

The surgeon's working environment has changed continuously in recent years regarding the technical complexity of the components in use in the operating room (OR). Parallel to this development, demands for process-optimized procedures have also grown constantly. The impetus for these changes was the beginning of use of minimally invasive techniques in surgery. In contrast, overall development of the OR itself has been slight or nonexistent. What we are typically confronted with currently is an OR outfitted with high-tech medical equipment, whereas only to a limited extent can the design of the OR itself be regarded as ergonomic or holistic. This situation has spread to related specialties as well, and represents a general tendency. Whereas dentists, for example, already enjoy the benefits of a centralized management and operation workplace, this development has not yet reached a satisfactory level for surgeons.

[Surgical information systems as instruments in quality assurance]. / OP-Informationssysteme als Instrumente zur Qualitätssicherung.

In various aspects, it is important to document medical procedures performed in surgical management. These records have become even more relevant because, in realizing the German health structure law, new forms of remuneration have been established, which are correlated with defined services. This means that data from medical documentation records today "rule" on financial compensation and, consequently, on the total economy of a hospital. Data are to be gathered considering multiple clinical and administrative requests; they have to register all pre-, intra- and postoperative details in their complex correlations; and, they are subject to strictly limited periods of compulsory availability. To meet these demands, data can only be recorded and evaluated by adequate computerized information systems. Starting out from a general data profile in response to questions from inside and outside of the hospitals, general criteria will be presented on what is to be recorded and how data are to be structured by surgery information systems. We will also refer to the interfaces required with information systems of other clinical departments that are part of the overall hospital information system. On this basis, guidelines are set up on how to plan, select, introduce and efficiently run these systems.

Postbypass hypothermia and its relationship to the energy balance of cardiopulmonary bypass.

Using a newly developed computerized intraoperative data acquisition system, the apparent adequacy of rewarming and its relation to the energy exchange between the patient and the bypass system was investigated. Retrospective analysis of comparable patients identified two groups that had, at the end of surgery, either a nasopharyngeal temperature (NPT) of 36 degrees C or more ("warm" group, n = 19), or a NPT of 35 degrees C or less ("cold" group, n = 19). Temperatures from the nasopharynx, thenar eminence skin, and bypass pump arterial and venous lines were continually recorded and sent to the computer data base together with the pump flow rate. There were no significant differences between the groups regarding time on perfusion, time taken to cool, time of hypothermia, or the time interval from end of perfusion to the end of surgery. However, rewarming time was greater in the warm group (P less than 0.01). The cold group were subjected to more profound hypothermia (P less than 0.001), and had lower NPTs and skin temperatures at the end of bypass (P less than 0.0001 and P less than 0.01, respectively). However, the difference between NPT and thenar skin temperature in each group at either the end of bypass or the end of surgery was the same. The net energy exchange between patient and pump was significantly different (mean in warm, 130 kJ [SD = 530]; in cold, -389 kJ [SD = 427]; P less than 0.003). In conclusion, the adequacy of rewarming can be expressed in terms of the energy exchanged in the bypass system, and cannot be assessed by the nasopharynx:skin temperature gradient.