Impact of an acute care surgery model with a dedicated daytime operating room on outcomes and timeliness of care in patients with biliary tract disease.

Abstract

Although many acute care surgery (ACS) formats exist, the model established in 2006 at our academic, level 1 trauma center includes a dedicated daytime operating room. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the effect that an ACS model with a dedicated daytime operating suite would have on outcomes and timeliness of care in patients with biliary tract disease. A retrospective cohort study was performed on all patients with biliary tract disease admitted to the University of Alberta Hospital pre- and post-ACS. Data collected included demographic information, medical diagnoses, procedures performed, and complications. Time points included the time from admission to operation, operative time, and length of hospital stay. Pre- and post-ACS groups were compared with the Pearson Chi square test and Student's t test (α = 0.05). There were 72 patients pre-ACS and 172 post-ACS. The two groups had similar demographics and co-morbidities. The post-ACS group had a shorter time from admission to operation (34.1 vs 24.8 h; p < 0.05). There was a decrease in the number of patients awaiting daytime operating room availability (95.8 vs 60.7 %; p < 0.05), with most surgeries being done within a 24 h period versus patients waiting upwards of 3 days pre-ACS. We observed a significant decrease in preoperative time by 10 h with increased access to a readily available operating room. Having a dedicated ACS team is important, but it is equally important to have a dedicated operating room with disposable time to care for unpredictable, emergent cases to realize the full potential benefit of the ACS model.