114 Allowing Overlapping Surgery Decreases Length of Stay in an Academic, Safety-Net Hospital

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The practice of surgeons performing overlapping surgery has recently come under scrutiny. We sought to examine the impact of overlapping rooms on surgery wait time and length of stay in patients admitted to a tertiary care, safety-net hospital for urgent neurosurgical procedures. METHODS Our hospital functions as a safety-net, tertiary care, level-1 trauma center in the Southern United States. The neurosurgery service transitioned from routinely allowing one room per day (period 1) to overlapping rooms (period 2), with the second room being staffed by the same attending surgeon. Patients undergoing neurosurgical intervention in each period were retrospectively compared. Case urgency, patient demographics, case type, indication, length of stay and time from admission to surgery were tracked. RESULTS >452 total cases were reviewed (201 in period 1 & 251 in period 2), covering 7 months in each period. 122 of the cases were classified as “urgent” (59 in period 1 and 63 in period 2). In the these patients, length of stay was significantly decreased in period 2 (13.09 days vs 19.52, p = .002) and the time from admission to surgery for urgent cases trended towards a shorter time (5.12 days vs 7.00, p = .084). Insurance status of these patients was 26.2% uninsured, 39.3% Medicaid, 18.9% Medicare, 9% commercial and the remainder workers compensation, liability or prisoner care. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that being in period 1, having Medicare, having trauma as the indication for surgery, and undergoing a non-cranial or non-spinal procedure as significant factors for increased length of stay. CONCLUSION Recent studies suggest overlapping surgeries are safe for patients. In the case of our safety net hospital, allowing the neurosurgery service to run overlapping rooms significantly reduces length of stay in a vulnerable population who is admitted in need of urgent surgery.