Rate of death, major complications varies significantly across anesthesiologists
MONDAY, March 9, 2015 (HealthDay News) — For patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery, the rate of death or major complications varies across anesthesiologists, according to a study published in the March issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia.
Laurent G. Glance, M.D., from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York, and colleagues used clinical data from the New York State Cardiac Surgery Reporting System for 7,920 patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The authors examined the variation in death or major complications across anesthesiologists. Fixed-effects modeling was used to quantify anesthesiologist performance.
The researchers observed highly significant variability across anesthesiologists (P < 0.001). The rate of death or serious complications was nearly twice as high for patients managed by low-performance anesthesiologists versus patients managed by high-performance anesthesiologists (adjusted rate, 3.33 versus 1.82 percent). The findings were consistent across all patient risk groups.
“These findings suggest that there may be opportunities to improve perioperative management to improve outcomes among high-risk surgical patients,” the authors write.
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