Association of overlapping, nonconcurrent surgery with patient outcomes

Editor's Note

Overlapping, nonconcurrent surgery was not associated with an increase in serious unanticipated events in this study.

Of 61,525 surgical procedures performed over 1 year at a large academic medical center, a total of 8,391 patients had any overlap (beginning or end) and were matched on 11 variables.

Compared to no overlap, any overlap was not associated with an increase in:

• unanticipated returns to surgery (9.8% any overlap vs 10.1% no overlap)
• reoperations at 30 (3.6% vs 3.7%) or 90 days (3.8% vs 3.9%)
• readmissions at 30 (9.9% vs 10.2%) or 90 days (6.9% vs 7.0%)
• emergency room visits at 30 (5.4% vs 5.6%) or 90 days (4.8% vs 4.7%)
• mortality at 90 days (1.7% vs 2.1%).