Hospital teaching status and patient outcomes in intestinal obstruction surgery: A comparative analysis

Surgery at large teaching hospitals is reportedly associated with more favourable outcomes. However, these results are not uniformly consistent across all surgical patients. This study aimed to assess potential disparities in clinical outcomes by hospital type for patients with intestinal obstruction.

2018 NIS was queried for all adult non-elective admissions for intestinal obstruction. Hospitals were classified as either smallmedium non-teaching hospitals or large teaching hospitals. Multivariate regression analyses were used to assess the association between hospital type and inpatient mortality, access to surgery, admission duration, non-home discharges, hospital costs, and postoperative complications.

After adjustments, admission to large teaching hospitals was not associated with a reduction in inpatient mortality (AOR= 0.73; 95% CI= 0.41- 1.31; p= 0.29), lower likelihood of surgery (AOR= 0.93; 95% CI= 0.58-1.48; p= 0.76) or increased chance of early surgery (p= 0.97). Patients admitted to large teaching hospitals had shorter hospital stays (p= 0.002) and were less likely to be discharged to other acute care hospitals (AOR= 0.94; 95% CI= 0.80-0.94; p= 0.04). Admission to large teaching hospitals was not associated with a reduction in perioperative complications (AOR= 1.04; 95% CI= 0.80- 1.28; p= 0.91) or significantly higher hospital costs (mean increase= 1518; 95% CI= 1891-4927; p= 0.38).

Admission to large teaching hospitals does not necessarily result in better patient outcomes. Merely considering the teaching status of the hospital in isolation cannot explain the diverse outcomes observed for this condition.