title: CABG path cuts recovery LOS to one post-op day.
abstract: An early goal of the cardiac service line team at St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers in Beech Grove, IN, was to reduce the postoperative recovery time of coronary artery bypass graft patients in the Cardiac Surgery Unit (CSU). Previously, recovery time had averaged two to three days, while the room rate in the CSU runs about $1,200 per day. Now, with the help of a pathway originally based on existing preprinted orders created by the cardiac surgeons, the service line has decreased recovery length of stay to one day, with 80% to 90% of patients moving out on postoperative day one. Eventually, the cardiac line staff hope to combine the recovery area and the stepdown unit so it's not necessary to transfer patients and maintain two separate staffs.
mesh_terms: D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000592:standards*; D019091:Critical Pathways; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007196:Indiana; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000639:trends*; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration; D011182:Postoperative Care; D012122:Ventilators, Mechanical