The Ohio State University College of Public Health recently released a study which found that the likelihood of adverse events (AEs) varies widely across different types of surgery.  The study used patient electronic records to determine the rates of adverse events.

[Photo: Dr. Fazal Zeeshan]

“Surgeons are particularly interested in knowing about why some kinds of surgery are associated with high rates of adverse events,” said Dr. Fazal Zeeshan, a recent PhD graduate of the Ohio State College of Public Health.

Detecting variations in AEs among surgical categories will be useful to surgeons and hospital quality assurance personnel.  Documentation of specific AE incidence rates and determining AE severity rates and age distributions among the most common surgical categories will allow officials to better identify patient safety needs and develop targeted improvements.

“Our study found that there are surprisingly wide variations in adverse events rates depending on the type of surgery and the underlying severity of the patient’s condition,” said professor Dr. Allard Dembe, Dr. Zeeshan’s advisor.

The study used electronic records (ERS) collected from 2006-2009 from three different surgery categories at three Midwestern hospitals that are all part of a large integrated health care system.  Data obtained from the ERS included the type and number of reported AE’s for a patient during a surgical hospitalization. The most common type of adverse event involved care management, followed by medication events and events related to invasive procedures.

Link to the full article in the Patient Safety and Surgery Journal through The Ohio State University College of Public Health website.