Intraop handover of anesthesia care linked to adverse outcomes

Editor's Note

Complete handover of intraoperative anesthesia care was significantly linked to adverse postoperative outcomes in this Canadian study.

In this analysis of 313,066 adult patients having major surgery, complete intraoperative handover of anesthesia care, compared with no handover, was significantly associated with a higher risk of a composite of all-cause deaths, hospital readmissions, or major postoperative complications over 30 days (44% vs 29%).

After adjustment, complete handovers remained statistically significantly associated with an increase in all-cause deaths and major complications within 30 days of surgery, but not with hospital readmissions.

The findings may support limiting complete intraoperative anesthesia handovers, the researchers say.

This cohort study uses Canadian administrative health care data to investigate associations between handover of intraoperative anesthesia care between one physician and another and risk of adverse postoperative outcomes among patients undergoing major surgery.

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