Cardiac Surgeons after Vacation: Refreshed or Rusty?

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Surgery
• Surgical Outcomes Research
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Surgeons often report feeling less proficient after time off.
• No prior research investigated the effect of surgeon vacation on patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if surgeon vacation duration impacts patient outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting.
• To analyze the association between post-vacation surgical procedures and patient safety.

Main Methods:

• Utilized administrative data from Ontario, Canada, for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients.
• Employed propensity score matching to compare patients undergoing surgery after a surgeon's vacation (≥7 days) versus those without.
• Matched 1,161 patients post-vacation with 2,138 control patients.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant differences were observed in patient mortality (OR: 1.23, p=0.52).
• Operative length (RR: 1.00, p=0.58) and intensive care unit/hospital stay (RR: 0.97, p=0.66 / RR: 0.98, p=0.54) showed no significant changes.
• The study found no increased risk for patients operated on immediately after a surgeon's extended leave.

Conclusions:

• Surgeon vacation duration of at least 7 days does not appear to adversely affect patient outcomes in CABG procedures.
• Findings suggest that patient safety is maintained irrespective of the surgeon's recent vacation status.
• This research addresses a gap in understanding the relationship between surgeon rest and surgical quality.