- Complications more likely to be severe if surgery is emergency and not planned
- Previous research reveals surgeries outside ‘expected’ hours are more risky
- Experts believe it may be worth increasing surgical teams and operating rooms
- This may let a greater number of procedures being performed during the day
- Urgent cases may benefit from being stabilized until daytime for operations
People should not have surgery in the evenings, new research suggests.
The risk of suffering complications increases by more than 50 percent for operations starting between 9pm and 7am, a study found.
Such complications are also significantly more likely to be severe if the surgery taking place during this time frame is an emergency, as opposed to being scheduled in advance, the research adds.
This builds on previous research that reveals procedures performed outside of ‘expected’ hours, such as operations that occur on weekends, are more likely to have errors.
Lead author Dr Aditya Pandey from the University of Michigan, said: ‘Could it mean that health systems need to invest more with respect to increasing the number of surgical teams and operating rooms to allow for greater proportion of surgeries to be performed during day hours and that urgent cases should be stabilized and performed during day hours?’
People should not have surgery in the evenings, new research suggests (stock)
How the research was carried out
The researchers analyzed 15,807 patients who underwent brain surgery between January 1 2007 and August 1 2014 at their university.
Some 785 complications were reported by surgeons.
Risk increases by more than 50% for late-night surgeries
Results reveal the risk of suffering complications increases by more than 50 percent for surgeries starting between 9pm and 7am.
Such complications are also significantly more likely to be severe if the surgery taking place during this time frame is an emergency, as opposed to being scheduled in advance.
This builds on previous research that reveals procedures performed outside of ‘expected’ hours, such as operations that occur on weekends, are more likely to have errors.
Dr Pandey said: ‘We need to continue to study this relationship as we aim to minimize surgery related complications.
‘Could it mean that health systems need to invest more with respect to increasing the number of surgical teams and operating rooms to allow for greater proportion of surgeries to be performed during day hours and that urgent cases should be stabilized and performed during day hours?
‘These are important questions that must be raised as we continue to solidify the relationship between surgical start time and surgical complications.’
The findings were published in the journal Neurosurgery.