Impact of a regional acute care surgery model on patient access and outcomes.
BACKGROUND
The consolidation of acute care surgery (ACS) services at 3 of 6 hospitals in a Canadian health region sought to alleviate a relative shortage of surgeons able to take emergency call. We examined how this affected patient access and outcomes.


METHODS
Using the generalized linear model and statistical process control, we analyzed ACS-related episodes that occurred between 39 months prior to and 17 months after the model's implementation (n = 14,713).


RESULTS
Time to surgery increased after the consolidation. Wait times increased primarily for patients presenting at nonreferral hospitals who were likely to require transfer to a referral hospital. Although ACS teams enabled referral hospitals to handle a much higher volume of patients without increasing within-hospital wait times, overall system wait times were lengthened by the growing frequency of patient transfers. Wait times for inpatient admission were difficult to interpret because there was a trend toward admitting patients directly to the ACS service, bypassing the emergency department (ED). For patients who did go through the ED, wait times for inpatient admission increased after the consolidation; however, this trend was cancelled out by the apparently zero waits of patients who bypassed the ED. Regionalization showed no impact on length of stay, readmissions, mortality or complications.


CONCLUSIONS
Consolidation enabled the region to ensure adequate surgical coverage without harming patients. The need to transfer patients who presented at nonreferral hospitals led to longer waits.
From the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and the University of Manitoba, Community Health Services, Winnipeg, Man.
Sara A
SA
Kreindler
Liping
L
Zhang
Colleen J
CJ
Metge
Richard W
RW
Nason
Brock
B
Wright
Wendy
W
Rudnick
Michael E K
ME
Moffatt
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017050:Episode of Care; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery / Q000458:organization & administration; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017146:Models, Organizational; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000078329:Workforce