Comparing Preoperative Targets to Failure-to-Rescue for Surgical Mortality Improvement.

Failure-to-rescue (FTR or death after postoperative complication) is thought to explain surgical mortality excesses across hospitals, and FTR is an emerging performance measure and target for quality improvement. We compared the FTR population to preoperatively identifiable subpopulations for their potential to close the mortality gap between lowest- and highest-mortality hospitals. Patients undergoing small bowel resection, pancreatectomy, colorectal resection, open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, lower extremity arterial bypass, and nephrectomy were identified in the 2007 to 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Lowest- and highest-mortality hospitals were defined using risk- and reliability-adjusted mortality quintiles. Five target subpopulations were established a priori: the FTR population, predicted high-mortality risk (predicted highest-risk quintile), emergency surgery, elderly (>75 years old), and diabetic patients. Across the lowest mortality quintile (n=282 hospitals, 56,893 patients) and highest-mortality quintile (282 hospitals, 45,784 patients), respectively, the size of target subpopulations varied only for the FTR population (20.2% vs 22.4%, p=0.002) but not for other subpopulations. Variation in mortality rates across lowest- and highest-mortality hospitals was greatest for the high-mortality risk (7.5% vs 20.2%, p<0.0001) and FTR subpopulations (7.8% vs 18.9%, p<0.0001). The FTR and high-risk populations had comparable sensitivity (81% and 75%) and positive predictive value (19% and 20%, respectively) for mortality. In Monte Carlo simulations, the mortality gap between the lowest- and highest-mortality hospitals was reduced by nearly 75% when targeting the FTR population or the high-risk population, 78% for the emergency surgery population, but less for elderly (51%) and diabetic (17%) populations. Preoperatively identifiable patients with high estimated mortality risk may be preferable to the FTR population as a target for surgical mortality reduction.

Hyder JA ，Wakeam E ，Adler JT ，DeBord Smith A ，Lipsitz SR ，Nguyen LL ... -  《-》

Hospital variation in mortality after emergent bowel resections: The role of failure-to-rescue.

Mehta A ，Efron DT ，Stevens K ，Manukyan MC ，Joseph B ，Sakran JV ... -  《-》

Hospital variation in failure to rescue after colorectal cancer surgery: results of the Dutch Surgical Colorectal Audit.

Henneman D ，Snijders HS ，Fiocco M ，van Leersum NJ ，Kolfschoten NE ，Wiggers T ，Wouters MW ，Tollenaar RA ... -  《-》

Complications and Failure to Rescue After Inpatient Noncardiac Surgery in the Veterans Affairs Health System.

Massarweh NN ，Kougias P ，Wilson MA 《-》

Failure to rescue and mortality following repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Recently, failure to rescue (FTR; death following major complication) has been shown to be a primary driver of mortality in highly morbid operations. Establishing this relationship for open and endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms may be a critical first step in improving mortality following these procedures. We sought to examine the relative contribution of severe complications and FTR to variations in mortality rate. We examined endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) and open aortic repair (OAR; n = 3215) performed in 40 hospitals participating in the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative from 2007 to 2012. Hospitals were first divided into risk-adjusted mortality tertiles. We then determined rates of severe complications and FTR within each tertile. For EVAR, risk-adjusted hospital mortality rates varied significantly between the lowest and highest tertiles (0.07% vs 6.14%; P < .01). However, while major complication rates were almost identical (9.0 vs 9.8; P = NS), FTR rates were about 35 times greater in high-mortality hospitals (4.0% vs 33.3%). Similar associations with mortality, severe complications, and FTR were seen for OAR as well. The most common complications that led to FTR events were postoperative transfusion (OAR 29.8% vs EVAR 5.8%) and prolonged ventilation (OAR 18.2% vs EVAR 1.0%). The average number of severe complications per FTR event was 2.85 and 2.66 for OAR and EVAR, respectively. FTR appears to drive a large proportion of the variation in mortality associated with abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. The exact mechanisms underlying this variation remain unknown. Nonetheless, FTR is influenced by the structural characteristics and safety culture related to the timely recognition and management of severe complications. Hospitals that are unable to effectively handle severe complications following EVAR or OAR require close scrutiny.

Waits SA ，Sheetz KH ，Campbell DA ，Ghaferi AA ，Englesbe MJ ，Eliason JL ，Henke PK ... -  《-》