JAMA surgery
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Comparative Study
The significance of preoperative impaired sensorium on surgical outcomes in nonemergent general surgical operations.
With an aging population, preoperative assessment of the frail older adult requires evaluation beyond simply accounting for chronic diseases. Impaired cognition is a recognized characteristic of the frail older adult. ⋯ Impaired sensorium significantly increases postoperative morbidity and mortality independent of other preoperative risk factors and comorbidities following nonemergent general surgical operations. Incorporation of impaired cognitive function into routine preoperative risk assessment and decision making could be an important addition to traditional risk assessment strategies.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
A comparison of 2 surgical site infection monitoring systems.
Surgical site infection (SSI) has emerged as the leading publicly reported surgical outcome and is tied to payment determinations. Many hospitals monitor SSIs using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP), in addition to mandatory participation (for most states) in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), which has resulted in duplication of effort and incongruent data. ⋯ Colon SSI rates from the NHSN and the ACS NSQIP cannot be used interchangeably to evaluate hospital performance and determine reimbursement. Hospitals should not use the ACS NSQIP colon SSI rates for the NHSN reports because that would likely result in the hospital being an outlier for performance. It is imperative to reconcile SSI monitoring, develop consistent definitions, and establish one reliable method. The current state hinders hospital improvement efforts by adding unnecessary confusion to the already complex arena of perioperative improvement.
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Comparative Study
Factors associated with small abdominal aortic aneurysm expansion rate.
Because of the high mortality rate after rupture of small abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), surveillance is recommended to detect aneurysm expansion; however, the effects of clinical risk factors on long-term patterns of AAA expansion are poorly characterized. ⋯ Smoking cessation and control of diastolic blood pressure are direct actions that should be taken to reduce the rate of AAA expansion. Other clinical risk factors, except for diabetes, were not associated with the AAA expansion rate. This study also provides evidence of differing trajectories in AAA expansion over time, a finding that merits further investigation.
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Cancer center recognition, offered as accreditation by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer or the National Cancer Institute, and quality measure reporting purport to improve the quality of cancer care. For surgically resectable gastric cancer, removal of 15 or more lymph nodes has been associated with improved outcomes and has been endorsed as a gastric cancer quality measure. ⋯ Although adequate lymph node retrieval is more likely in hospitals with a recognized cancer program, survival outcome is associated with the lymph node count rather than with cancer program classification. Less than half of the cases reviewed in this study met the minimum lymph node-count guideline, indicating the need for process improvement for all hospitals.