Operation timing and 30-day mortality after elective general surgery.

Area of Science:

• Surgical Outcomes Research
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Human factors like fatigue and circadian rhythms can impact patient care across medical specialties.
• Transportation industry research indicates impaired performance due to shift work and prolonged duty.
• The study investigates potential links between surgical timing and patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if the timing of general surgery influences 30-day mortality.
• To evaluate the association between surgical timing and in-hospital complications.
• To assess the impact of time of day, day of week, month, and moon phase on surgical outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 32,001 elective general surgery cases from January 2005 to September 2010.
• Surgical timing variables included hour of day, day of workweek, month, and moon phase.
• Multivariable logistic regression adjusted for a risk stratification index.

Main Results:

• No significant association was found between time of day and 30-day mortality (P = 0.09).
• No significant associations were observed for day of week (P = 0.85), month (P = 0.22), or moon phase (P = 0.72).
• No time-dependent differences in composite in-hospital complications were detected.

Conclusions:

• Elective general surgery demonstrates comparable safety regardless of the time of day.
• Surgical safety is consistent across all days of the workweek and all months of the year.
• Patient outcomes are not significantly affected by the timing factors investigated.