A short-stay unit for thyroidectomy patients increases discharge efficiency.

BACKGROUND: Patients traditionally recover overnight on a general surgery ward after a thyroidectomy; however, these units often lack the efficiency and focus for rapid discharge, which is the goal of a short-stay (SS) unit. Using an SS unit for thyroidectomy patients, who are often discharged in <24 h, may reduce the duration of hospital stay and subsequently decrease associated costs and increase hospital bed and resource availability. METHODS: A retrospective review of 400 patients undergoing thyroidectomy at a single academic hospital. We analyzed postoperative discharge information and hospital cost data. Adult patients who stayed a single night in the hospital were included. We compared patients staying on a designated SS unit versus a general surgery (GS) ward. RESULTS: A total of 223 patients were admitted to SS, and 177 to GS. Trends of admission location were blocked based on time period, with most patients per time period going to the same location. Discharge times were significantly quicker for patients admitted to SS (P < 0.001). A total of 70% of SS patients were discharged before noon, versus 40% of GS patients (P < 0.001). Many variances were identified to account for these differences. Direct costs were significantly lower with SS, owing to savings in pharmacy, recovery room, and nursing expenses (all P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: A designated short-stay hospital unit is an effective model for increasing the efficiency of discharge for thyroidectomy patients compared with those admitted to a general surgery ward. It also serves to increase bed availability, which decreases hospital cost and may improve patient flow.

Increased efficiency of endocrine procedures performed in an ambulatory operating room.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid and parathyroid procedures historically have been viewed as inpatient procedures. Because of the advancements in surgical techniques, these procedures were transferred from the inpatient operating room (OR) to the outpatient OR at a single academic institution approximately 7 y ago. The goal of this study was to determine whether this change has decreased turnover times and maximized OR utilization. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of 707 patients undergoing thyroid (34%) and parathyroid (66%) procedures by a single surgeon at our academic institution between 2005 and 2008. Inpatient and outpatient groups were compared using Student t-test, chi-square test, or the Kruskal-Wallis test where appropriate. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine how patient and hospital factors influenced turnover times. RESULTS: Turnover times were significantly lower in the outpatient OR (mean 18 ± 0.7 min) when compared with the inpatient OR (mean 36 ± 1.4 min) (P < 0.001). When compared by type of procedure, all turnover times remained significantly lower in the outpatient OR. Patients in both ORs were similar in age, gender, and comorbidities. However, inpatients had a higher mean American Society of Anesthesiologists score (2.30 versus 2.13, P < 0.001) and were more likely to have an operative indication of cancer (23.1% versus 9.2%, P < 0.001). Using multiple regression, the inpatient OR remained highly significantly associated with higher turnover times when controlling for these small differences (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Endocrine procedures performed in the outpatient OR have significantly faster turnover times leading to cost savings and greater OR utilization for hospitals.