Abstract

BACKGROUND: Patients with increasing age and medical complexity are undergoing colorectal surgery. Medical complications are not uncommon, and may contribute to higher mortality. We implemented a surgical co-management (SCM) model in July 2014 at our institution where same two SCM hospitalists were dedicated to Colorectal surgery year round. Each patient was screened daily by a SCM hospitalist for prevention and management of medical complications. Prior to SCM, hospitalists were typically consulted after medical complications had occurred.STUDY DESIGN: Pre-post study at an academic medical center with 938 patients in the pre-SCM group (July 2012 to June 2014), and 1,062 patients in the post-SCM group (July 2014 to May 2016). We evaluated if SCM by hospitalists improved outcomes of patients in Colorectal surgery.RESULTS: There was no significant difference in medical complications, patient satisfaction, or 30-day readmission rate to our institution for medical cause with the SCM intervention. This intervention was associated with a significant decrease in the proportion of patients transferred to intensive care unit after rapid response team calls (RR, 0.25 [95% CI, 0.05 to 0.84], P = 0.039), proportion of patients with LOS =5 days (RR, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.64 to 0.83], P <0.001), use of medical consultants (RR, 0.75 [95% CI, 0.63 to 0.89], P = 0.001), and the median direct cost of care by 10.3% (P = 0.0002).CONCLUSIONS: SCM intervention was associated with a decrease in transfers to intensive care unit after rapid response team call, LOS, medical consultants, and the cost of care.

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