Related Experiment Videos
Advancing health equity in Complex Abdominal & Pelvic Surgery: A 5-year report
A C Powell1, P Kang2, J Farley3
1Departments of Surgery, Dignity Health Cancer Institute/St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center and Creighton University School of Medicine, Phoenix, USA; Department of Surgery, University of Nevada, Reno, USA.
Objective:
To evaluate the effectiveness of a Complex Abdominal and Pelvic Surgery (CAPS) program at a tertiary referral center in Arizona in providing complex surgical care for an underserved population METHODS: Thirty-day post-operative outcomes for mortality, complications, length of stay and readmission were compared among patients with low/low-medium and medium-high/high social vulnerability index (SVI) for 120 patients who underwent surgery with the CAPS program from 2019 to 2024.
Results:
There were no differences in outcomes between SVI groups. The 30-day mortality rate was 2% (2 patients). Seventy-four patients (62%) had at least one complication, of which most were Grade I or II complications. The median post-surgery length of stay was 10 days and the readmission rate was 24%.
Conclusion:
The provision of complex surgical care in a population with high social vulnerability is safe and advances equity but is resource intensive. Further research is warranted to investigate the development of similar programs.