Following an analysis of nearly 10,000 procedures, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have identified risk factors associated with readmission for pediatric patients undergoing neurosurgery. Their findings are published in Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.
They found the average rate of readmission for pediatric patients who returned to the hospital within 30 days of surgery was 11.2 percent, with the average time between primary surgical procedure and readmission being 14.04 days. The strongest predictor of readmissions was infection post-operation, specifically surgical site infections, although postoperative pneumonia, sepsis, long-term steroid use, seizure disorders and need for nutritional support or oxygen, among other factors, also contributed to likelihood of readmission.
"The importance of this study is the realization that most of the factors that increase the risk of readmission cannot be controlled by physicians or hospitals," corresponding author Brandon Rocque, MD, said in a statement. "We must be careful using readmission as a way to measure quality of care. Counting a readmission as evidence of lower quality care has the potential to unfairly judge a health system."