Patients waiting for emergency surgery have higher risk of dying: STUDY

Jul 10 2017, 10:34 pm

Canadian patients who are waiting for emergency surgeries are more at risk for death or extra recovery time in hospital, according to a Canadian study.

The report, titled “Association of Delay of Urgent or Emergency Surgery with Mortality and Use of Health Care Resources,” was conducted by doctors and researchers at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and studied 15,160 patients waiting for emergency medical procedures.

Researchers looked at inpatient surgery at the Ottawa Hospital and examined adults undergoing emergency noncardiac surgery from January 2012 to October 2014.

Of those patients, 2820 (18.6%) experienced a delay waiting for their operations.

Those who experienced delays were more also more likely to experience higher hospital costs or pass away during their stay. The study found that of those 2820 patients experiencing delays, 138 died due to lack of timely medical care.

According to the report, the main reasons patients had to wait for their procedures was the lack of available medical personnel.

Reasons for patient delay in access (CMJ)

Reasons for patient delay in access (CMJ)

The study also found that delayed surgery patients also had to stay in the hospital 1.1 days longer, and their hospital bill was $1,409 more than those who did not experience extended wait times.

In its conclusion, the report stated that “system issues appeared to underlie most delays and must be addressed to improve outcomes of emergency surgery.”

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