title: Total joint arthroplasty surgery: does day of surgery matter?
abstract: Length of stay (LOS) after total joint arthroplasty (TJA) impacts the expense to the hospital. Our purpose was to evaluate the impact that day of surgery has on postoperative LOS. 547 patients who had a primary TJA at two tertiary care hospitals were identified retrospectively. TJA patients admitted on day of surgery and who had primary elective surgery were included in our sample. Patients were subdivided into one of four groups: those who had operations on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday respectively. Patients who had surgery on Thursday and Friday had significantly longer LOS when compared to Monday and Tuesday. This variation in LOS between the groups may be due to inconsistencies in weekend functionality, less experienced part-time staffing, and inaccessibility of rehabilitation personnel.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Raghuveer C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Muppavarapu
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Avinash R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Chaurasia
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schwarzkopf
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Elizabeth G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Matzkin
authors.affiliation: Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Cassidy
authors.affiliation: Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Eric L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D019643:Arthroplasty, Replacement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: day of surgery; length of stay; total joint arthroplasty