Child Opportunity Index Disparities in Pediatric Surgical Encounters During the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: Surgical encounters decreased during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and may have been deferred more in children with impeded health care access related to social/community risk factors. We compared surgery trends before and during the pandemic by Child Opportunity Index (COI). METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 321,998 elective surgical encounters of children ages 0-to-18 years in 44 US children's hospitals from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021. We used auto-regression to compare observed versus predicted encounters by month in 2020-21, modeled from 2017 to 2019 trends. Encounters were compared by COI score (very low, low, moderate, high, very high) based on education, health/environment, and social/economic attributes of the zip code from the children's home residence. RESULTS: Most surgeries were on the musculoskeletal (28.1%), ear/nose/pharynx (17.1%), cardiovascular (15.1%), and digestive (9.1%) systems; 20.6% of encounters were for children with very low COI, 20.8% low COI, 19.8% moderate COI, 18.6% high COI, and 20.1% very high COI. Reductions in observed volume of 2020-21 surgeries compared with predicted varied significantly by COI, ranging from -11.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] -14.1%, -8.7%) for very low COI to -2.6% (95%CI -3.9%, 0.7%) for high COI. Variation by COI emerged in June 2020, as the volume of elective surgery encounters neared baseline. For 12 of the next 18 months, the reduction in volume of elective surgery encounters was the greatest in children with very low COI. CONCLUSIONS: Children from very low COI zip codes experienced the greatest reduction in elective surgery encounters during early COVID-19 without a subsequent increase in encounters over time to counterbalance the reduction.

A Monte Carlo Simulation Approach to Optimizing Capacity in a High-Volume Congenital Heart Pediatric Surgical Center.

Importance: Elective surgeries are primarily scheduled according to surgeon availability with less consideration of patients' postoperative cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) length of stay. Furthermore, the CICU census can exhibit a high rate of variation in which the CICU is operating at over-capacity, resulting in admission delays and cancellations; or under-capacity, resulting in underutilized labor and overhead expenditures. Objective: To identify strategies to reduce variation in CICU occupancy levels and avoid late patient surgery cancellation. Design: Monte Carlo simulation study of the daily and weekly CICU census at Boston Children's Hospital Heart Center. Data on all surgical admissions to and discharges from the CICU at Boston Children's Hospital between September 1, 2009 and November 2019 were included to obtain the distribution of length of stay for the simulation study. The available data allows us to model realistic length of stay samples that include short and extended lengths of stay. Main Outcomes: Annual number of patient surgical cancellations and change in average daily census. Results: We demonstrate that the models of strategic scheduling would result in up to 57% reduction in patient surgical cancellations, increase the historically low Monday census and decrease the historically higher late-mid-week (Wednesday and Thursday) censuses in our center. Conclusions and Relevance: Use of strategic scheduling may improve surgical capacity and reduce the number of annual cancellations. The reduction of peaks and valleys in the weekly census corresponds to a reduction of underutilization and overutilization of the system.

Accurate Prediction of Congenital Heart Surgical Length of Stay Incorporating a Procedure-Based Categorical Variable.

OBJECTIVES: There is increasing demand for the limited resource of Cardiac ICU care. In this setting, there is an expectation to optimize hospital resource use without restricting care delivery. We developed methodology to predict extended cardiac ICU length of stay following surgery for congenital heart disease. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis by multivariable logistic regression of important predictive factors for outcome of postoperative ICU length of stay greater than 7 days. SETTING: Cardiac ICU at Boston Children's Hospital, a large, pediatric cardiac surgical referral center. PATIENTS: All patients undergoing congenital heart surgery at Boston Children's Hospital from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2015. INTERVENTIONS: No study interventions. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The patient population was identified. Clinical variables and Congenital Heart Surgical Stay categories were recorded based on surgical intervention performed. A model was built to predict the outcome postoperative ICU length of stay greater than 7 days at the time of surgical intervention. The development cohort included 4,029 cases categorized into five Congenital Heart Surgical Stay categories with a C statistic of 0.78 for the outcome ICU length of stay greater than 7 days. Explanatory value increased with inclusion of patient preoperative status as determined by age, ventilator dependence, and admission status (C statistic = 0.84). A second model was optimized with inclusion of intraoperative factors available at the time of postoperative ICU admission, including cardiopulmonary bypass time and chest left open (C statistic 0.87). Each model was tested in a validation cohort (n = 1,008) with equivalent C statistics. CONCLUSIONS: Using a model comprised of basic patient characteristics, we developed a robust prediction tool for patients who will remain in the ICU longer than 7 days after cardiac surgery, at the time of postoperative ICU admission. This model may assist in patient counseling, case scheduling, and capacity management. Further examination in external settings is needed to establish generalizability.

A red cell preservation strategy reduces postoperative transfusions in pediatric heart surgery patients.

BACKGROUND: Blood transfusion has well-documented adverse effects. As part of a blood conservation initiative at our center, we began routine use of cell saver for all congenital heart surgery performed on cardiopulmonary bypass since 2014. AIMS: This study aimed to compare transfusion rates prior to, and in the first and second year after this initiative. We hypothesized that cell saver use would decrease transfusion requirements in second year after use of the cell saver compared to the pre cell saver group. METHODS: Consecutive patients under 18 years undergoing congenital heart surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass were retrospectively analyzed as 3 one-year cohorts defined above. We excluded patients who required mechanical support or reoperation at index admission. Baseline characteristics, and use of blood intraoperatively and postoperatively were compared between groups. RESULTS: The 3 groups had similar baseline characteristics. Blood use was significantly lower in year 2 after cell saver initiation as compared to the pre cell saver group both intra- and postoperatively. The median difference in volume of intraoperative blood transfusion was lower by 138 mL/m2 (-266, -10 mL/m2 ) in year 2 when compared to the pre cell saver group. Similarly, the proportion of subjects requiring red blood cell transfusion postoperatively on day of surgery was lower by 10% (-15%, -6%). CONCLUSION: Standardized use of cell saver significantly decreased perioperative blood use in children undergoing cardiac surgery at our center. A risk-adjusted transfusion threshold for children undergoing heart surgery needs to be developed to further decrease exposure to blood products and associated costs.

A Method to Account for Variation in Congenital Heart Surgery Length of Stay.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to develop a risk-adjustment methodology for length of stay in congenital heart surgery, as none exist. DESIGN: Prospective cohort analysis combined with previously obtained retrospective cohort analysis of a Department of Cardiovascular Surgery clinical database. PATIENTS: Patients discharged from Boston Children's Hospital between October 1, 2006, and May 31, 2014, that underwent a congenital heart surgery procedure(s) linked to one of 103 surgical procedure types. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Six thousand two hundred nine discharges during the reporting period at Boston Children's Hospital comprised the cohort. Seven Surgical Length Categories were developed to group surgical procedure types. A multivariable model for outcome length of stay was built using a derivation cohort consisting of a 75% random sample, starting with Surgical Length Categories and considering additional a priori factors. Postoperative factors were then added to improve predictive performance. The remaining 25% of the cohort was used to validate the multivariable models. The coefficient of determination (R) was used to estimate the variability in length of stay explained by each factor. The Surgical Length Categories yielded an R of 42%. Model performance increased when the a priori factors preoperative status, noncardiac abnormality, genetic anomaly, preoperative catheterization during episode of care, weight less than 3 kg, and preoperative vasoactive support medication were introduced to the model (R = 60.8%). Model performance further improved when postoperative ventilation greater than 7 days, operating room time, postoperative catheterization during episode of care, postoperative reintubation, number of postoperative vasoactive support medications, postoperative ICU infection, and greater than or equal to one secondary surgical procedure were added (R = 76.7%). The validation cohort yielded an R of 76.5%. CONCLUSIONS: We developed a statistically valid procedure-based categorical variable and multivariable model for length of stay of congenital heart surgeries. The Surgical Length Categories and important a priori and postoperative factors may be used to pursue a predictive tool for length of stay to inform scheduling and bed management practices.