New in JAMA:
Importance The effect of surgeons’ disrupted sleep on patient outcomes is not clearly defined.
Objective To assess if surgeons operating the night before have more complications of elective surgery performed the next day.
Design, Setting, and Participants Population-based, matched, retrospective cohort study using administrative health care databases in Ontario, Canada (2012 population, 13 505 900). Participants were 2078 patients who underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed by surgeons who operated the night before, matched with 4 other elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy recipients (n = 8312).
Exposure In total, 94 183 eligible elective laparoscopic cholecystectomies were performed between 2004 and 2011. Of these surgeries, there were 2078 procedures in which 331 different surgeons across 102 community hospitals had operated between midnight and 7 am the night before. Each “at-risk” surgery was randomly matched with 4 other elective laparoscopic cholecystectomies (n = 8312) performed by the same surgeon, who had no evidence of having operated the night before.
Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was conversion from a laparoscopic cholecystectomy to open cholecystectomy. Secondary outcomes included evidence of iatrogenic injuries or death. Risks were quantified using generalized estimating equations.
They found that there was no significant association in the rates at which laproscopic cholecystectomies had to be converted to open cholecystectomies related to whether surgeons operated the previous night. They also found no associations between operating the night before and iatrogenic injuries during surgery, or in deaths from surgery.
In other words, this study found no evidence to support the idea that there are safety concerns with surgeons who operated the night before with respect to elective daytime cholecystectomies. Good news!
