Perioperative medicine training resources: U5M6: Evidence-based protocols for postoperative patient care

Abstract
Contrary to the intraoperative period, the current perioperative environment is known to be fragmented and expensive. One of the potential solutions to this problem is the newly proposed perioperative surgical home (PSH) model of care. The PSH is a patient-centred micro healthcare system, which begins at the time the decision for surgery is made, is continuous through the perioperative period and concludes 30 days after discharge from the hospital. The model is based on multidisciplinary involvement: coordination of care, consistent application of best evidence/best practice protocols, full transparency with continuous monitoring and reporting of safety, quality, and cost data to optimize and decrease variation in care practices. To reduce said variation in care, the entire continuum of the perioperative process must evolve into a unique care environment handled by one perioperative team and coordinated by a leader. Anaesthesiologists are ideally positioned to lead this new model and thus significantly contribute to the highest standards in transitional medicine. The unique characteristics that place Anaesthesiologists in this framework include their systematic role in hospitals (as coordinators between patients/medical staff and institutions), the culture of safety and health care metrics innate to the specialty, and a significant role in the preoperative evaluation and counselling process, making them ideal leaders in perioperative medicine.

Abstract
Background: The Massachusetts General Hospital is a large, quaternary care institution with 58 operating rooms, 164 anesthesiologists, 76 certified nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), an anesthesiology residency program that admits 25 residents annually, and 35 surgeons who perform laparoscopic, vaginal, and open hysterectomies. In March of 2018, our institution launched an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) pathway for patients undergoing hysterectomy. To implement the anesthesia bundle of this pathway, an intensive 14-month educational endeavor was created and put into effect. There were no subsequent additional educational interventions.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed records of 2570 patients who underwent hysterectomy between October 2016 and March 2020 to determine adherence to the anesthesia bundle of the ERAS Hysterectomy pathway.

Results: Increased adherence to the four elements of the anesthesia bundle (p < 0.001) was achieved during the intervention period. Compliance with the pathway was sustained in the post-intervention period despite no additional actions.

Conclusions: Implementing the anesthesia bundle of an ERAS pathway in a large anesthesia group with diverse providers successfully occurred using implementation science-based approach of intense interventions, and these results were maintained after the intervention ceased.

Abstract
Importance: Older adults, especially those with frailty, have a higher risk for complications and death after emergency surgery. Acute Care for the Elderly models have been successful in medical wards, but little evidence is available for patients in surgical wards.

Objectives: To develop and assess the effect of an Elder-Friendly Approaches to the Surgical Environment (EASE) model in an emergency surgical setting.

Design, setting, and participants: This prospective, nonrandomized, controlled before-and-after study included patients 65 years or older who presented to the emergency general surgery service of 2 tertiary care hospitals in Alberta, Canada. Transfers from other medical services, patients undergoing elective surgery or with trauma, and nursing home residents were excluded. Of 6795 patients screened, a total of 684 (544 in the nonintervention group and 140 in the intervention group) were included. Data were collected from April 14, 2014, to March 28, 2017, and analyzed from November 16, 2018, through May 30, 2019.

Interventions: Integration of a geriatric assessment team, optimization of evidence-based elder-friendly practices, promotion of patient-oriented rehabilitation, and early discharge planning.

Main outcomes and measures: Proportion of participants experiencing a major complication or death (composite) in the hospital, Comprehensive Complication Index, length of hospital stay, and proportion of participants who required an alternative level of care on discharge. Covariate-adjusted, within-site change scores were computed, and the overall between-site, preintervention-postintervention difference-in-differences (DID) were analyzed.

Results: A total of 684 patients were included in the analysis (mean [SD] age, 76.0 [7.6] years; 327 women [47.8%] and 357 men [52.2%]), of whom 139 (20.3%) were frail. At the intervention site, in-hospital major complications or death decreased by 19% (51 of 153 [33.3%] vs 19 of 140 [13.6%]; P < .001; DID P = .06), and mean (SE) Comprehensive Complication Index decreased by 12.2 (2.5) points (P < .001; DID P < .001). Median length of stay decreased by 3 days (10 [interquartile range (IQR), 6-17] days to 7 [IQR, 5-14] days; P = .001; DID P = .61), and fewer patients required an alternative level of care at discharge (61 of 153 [39.9%] vs 29 of 140 [20.7%]; P < .001; DID P = .11).

Conclusions and relevance: To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine clinical outcomes associated with a novel elder-friendly surgical care delivery redesign. The findings suggest the clinical effectiveness of such an approach by reducing major complications or death, decreasing hospital stays, and returning patients to their home residence.

Abstract
Background: Initiatives in perioperative care warrant robust cost-effectiveness analysis in a cost-constrained era when high-value care is a priority. A model of anesthesia-led early high-acuity postoperative care, advanced recovery room care (ARRC), has shown benefit in terms of hospital and patient outcomes, but its cost-effectiveness has not yet been formally determined.

Methods: Data from a previously published single-center prospective cohort study of ARRC in medium-risk patients were used to generate a Markov model, which described patient transition between care locations, each with different characteristics and costs. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), using days at home (DAH) and hospital costs, was calculated for ARRC compared to usual ward care using deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis.

Results: The Markov model accurately described patient disposition after surgery. For each patient, ARRC provided 4.3 more DAH within the first 90 days after surgery and decreased overall hospital costs by $1081 per patient. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis revealed that ARRC had a 99.3% probability of increased DAH and a 77.4% probability that ARRC was dominant from the perspective of the hospital, with improved outcomes and decreased costs.

Conclusions: Early high-acuity care for approximately 24 hours after surgery in medium-risk patients provides highly cost-effective improvements in outcomes when compared to usual ward care.

Abstract
There is an inherent tension between standardization and customization of care delivery processes. The challenge for health care systems is to achieve the right balance. At its best, standardized work can create efficiencies that generate the additional time needed for personalized care. Similarly, at its best, customization allows the people within a system to accommodate the needs, preferences, and circumstances of the unique individuals and local communities they serve. We provide examples and offer principles to decide when standardization offers the most successful path and when customization may be preferred. We believe that, in sum, the balance has shifted too far toward standardization and that a rebalancing toward customization will benefit patients, clinicians, and the health care system.

Abstract
Perioperative medicine is difficult to define, and thus, its progress may be hindered until internationally accepted definitions can be established within the field. The immediate agenda for perioperative physicians should be to agree upon such definitions in order to facilitate advancements in research, audits and outcome measurements. The REASON study, looking at institutions throughout New Zealand and Australia, confirmed that postoperative complications and mortality are important areas for multicentre trials.