Study supports overlapping orthopedic surgeries: 4 details to know

Research published in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery supports the practice of overlapping orthopedic surgeries within the inpatient setting.

Researchers studied 14,135 orthopedic surgery procedures performed at five university medical centers in from Jan. 1, to Dec. 31, 2015. Out of the procedures studied, 40 percent were overlapping.

Here are the key insights to know:

1. The frequency of perioperative complications during overlapping surgery was 1 percent.

2. In the non-overlapping group, the complication rate was 2 percent.

3. There was a lower chance of all-cause 30-day readmission in the overlapping surgery group, as well as a shorter length of stay, than in the non-overlapping group. There was not a difference in mortality.

4. "Our results suggest that overlapping inpatient orthopedic surgery does not introduce additional perioperative risk for the complications that we evaluated. The suitability of this practice should be determined by individual surgeons on a case-by-case basis with appropriate informed consent," the researchers concluded.

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