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Yue-Yung Hu,
Alexander F Arriaga,
Emilie M Roth,
Sarah E Peyre,
Katherine A Corso, Richard S Swanson,
Robert T Osteen,
Pamela Schmitt,
Angela M Bader,
Michael J Zinner,
Caprice C Greenberg
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ABSTRACT: To understand the etiology and resolution of unanticipated events in the operating room (OR).
The majority of surgical adverse events occur intraoperatively. The OR represents a complex, high-risk system. The influence of different human, team, and organizational/environmental factors on safety and performance is unknown.
We video-recorded and transcribed 10 high-acuity operations, representing 43.7 hours of patient care. Deviations, defined as delays and/or episodes of decreased patient safety, were identified by majority consensus of a multidisciplinary team. Factors that contributed to each event and/or mitigated its impact were determined and attributed to the patient, providers, or environment/organization.
Thirty-three deviations (10 delays, 17 safety compromises, 6 both) occurred--with a mean of 1 every 79.4 minutes. These deviations were multifactorial (mean 3.1 factors). Problems with communication and organizational structure appeared repeatedly at the root of both types of deviations. Delays tended to be resolved with vigilance, communication, coordination, and cooperation, while mediation of safety compromises was most frequently accomplished with vigilance, leadership, communication, and/or coordination. The organization/environment was not found to play a direct role in compensation.
Unanticipated events are common in the OR. Deviations result from poor organizational/environmental design and suboptimal team dynamics, with caregivers compensating to avoid patient harm. Although recognized in other high-risk domains, such human resilience has not yet been described in surgery and has major implications for the design of safety interventions.
Annals of surgery 06/2012; 256(2):203-10. · 7.90 Impact Factor
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Yue-Yung Hu,
Sarah E Peyre,
Alexander F Arriaga,
Robert T Osteen,
Katherine A Corso,
Thomas G Weiser, Richard S Swanson,
Stanley W Ashley,
Chandrajit P Raut,
Michael J Zinner,
Atul A Gawande,
Caprice C Greenberg
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ABSTRACT: The surgical learning curve persists for years after training, yet existing continuing medical education activities targeting this are limited. We describe a pilot study of a scalable video-based intervention, providing individualized feedback on intraoperative performance.
Four complex operations performed by surgeons of varying experience--a chief resident accompanied by the operating senior surgeon, a surgeon with less than 10 years in practice, another with 20 to 30 years in practice, and a surgeon with more than 30 years of experience--were video recorded. Video playback formed the basis of 1-hour coaching sessions with a peer-judged surgical expert. These sessions were audio recorded, transcribed, and thematically coded.
The sessions focused on operative technique--both technical aspects and decision-making. With increasing seniority, more discussion was devoted to the optimization of teaching and facilitation of the resident's technical performance. Coaching sessions with senior surgeons were peer-to-peer interactions, with each discussing his preferred approach. The coach alternated between directing the session (asking probing questions) and responding to specific questions brought by the surgeons, depending on learning style. At all experience levels, video review proved valuable in identifying episodes of failure to progress and troubleshooting alternative approaches. All agreed this tool is a powerful one. Inclusion of trainees seems most appropriate when coaching senior surgeons; it may restrict the dialogue of more junior attendings.
Video-based coaching is an educational modality that targets intraoperative judgment, technique, and teaching. Surgeons of all levels found it highly instructive. This may provide a practical, much needed approach for continuous professional development.
Journal of the American College of Surgeons 01/2012; 214(1):115-24. · 4.55 Impact Factor
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Journal of Clinical Oncology 12/2011; 29(35):e849-51. · 18.37 Impact Factor
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Richard S Swanson
Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons 10/2010; 95(10):29-30.
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ABSTRACT: The aims of this study were to evaluate contemporary outcomes associated with the surgical management of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) and to assess the prognostic value of the World Health Organization (WHO) classification and TNM staging for PNETs.
The medical records of 73 consecutive patients with PNETs treated at a single institution from January 1992 through September 2006 were reviewed. Survival was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method (median follow-up: 43 months).
Median patient age was 52 years (range, 19-83 years), and 36 (49%) patients were male. Thirty-three patients had a well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor (WDT), 26 had a well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (WDCa), and 14 had a poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (PDCa). Fifty (68%) patients underwent potentially curative resection, and the 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) rate for the entire cohort was 62%. WHO classification and TNM staging system provided good prognostic stratification of patients; 5-year DSS rates were 100% for WDT, 57% for WDCa, 8% for PDCa, respectively, by WHO classification (p < 0.001), and 100% for stage 1, 90% for stage 2, 57% for stage 3, and 8% for stage 4, respectively, by TNM stage (p < 0.001). Among the patients who underwent potentially curative resection, nodal status, distant metastasis, and tumor grade were significant prognostic factors.
WHO classification and TNM staging are useful for prognostic stratification among patients with PNETs.
Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery 03/2010; 14(5):891-8. · 2.83 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To determine the natural history of and guidelines for the surgical management of severe acute gastrointestinal (GI) graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
Case series from a prospective database.
Tertiary care referral center/National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.
A total of 63 of 2065 patients (3%) undergoing HSCT for hematologic malignancies from February 1997 to March 2005 diagnosed clinically with severe (stage 3 or 4) acute GI GVHD. Main Outcome Measure Percutaneous or surgical intervention. Perforation, obstruction, ischemia, hemorrhage, and abscess were considered surgically correctable problems.
Severe acute GI GVHD was diagnosed in 63 patients (median age at HSCT, 47.6 years) at a median of 23 days after HSCT. Clinical diagnosis was confirmed histologically in 84% of patients. On computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance images, 64% had bowel wall thickening, 20% had a normal-appearing bowel, and 16% had nonspecific findings; none had evidence of perforation, obstruction, or abscess. All were initially treated with immunosuppression. Only 1 patient (1.6%) required intervention, undergoing a nontherapeutic laparotomy for worsening abdominal pain. A total of 83% of patients have died (median time to death from HSCT, 119 days; from GI GVHD diagnosis, 85 days). None who underwent an autopsy died of a surgically correctable cause.
This series represents a large single-center experience with GI GVHD reviewed from a surgical perspective. Operative intervention was rarely required. Therefore, mature surgical judgment is necessary to confirm the absence of surgically reversible problems, thus avoiding unnecessary operations in this challenging patient population.
Archives of surgery (Chicago, Ill.: 1960) 12/2008; 143(11):1041-5; discussion 1046. · 4.32 Impact Factor
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Current Problems in Surgery 07/2006; 43(6):383-450. · 2.33 Impact Factor
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Digestive Diseases and Sciences 01/2006; 50(12):2259-62. · 2.12 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia is rising in Western countries. This study evaluates prognostic factors associated with surgical management of this cancer.
Medical records of consecutive patients with gastric cardial cancer treated by surgical resection from 1991 through 2001 were reviewed. Survival was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Prognostic factors were evaluated using log-rank test and Cox regression. Mean followup period was 34 months.
Eighty-two patients met study inclusion criteria. Median patient age was 65 years (range 86 to 22). Fifty-nine (72%) patients had type II tumors and 23 (28%) patients had type III tumors, according to the Siewert classification for gastroesophageal junction tumors. Twenty-seven (33%) patients underwent total esophagectomy, 24 (29%) patients underwent extended gastrectomy with thoracotomy, and 31 (38%) patients underwent extended gastrectomy without thoracotomy. Overall postoperative 5-year survival rate was 30%. On multivariate analysis, patient age 65 years and older, absence of lymph node metastasis, and R0 resection emerged as factors independently associated with improved postoperative survival. Frequency with which proximal resection margin was infiltrated with cancer was a function of gross margin length and T stage. Proximal gross margin length of at least 6 cm was required to achieve a microscopically negative proximal margin for T3 and T4 cancers.
Achieving R0 resection should be the goal of surgical therapy for the gastric cardial cancer. The surgical approach should be tailored to individual patients to achieve this goal.
Journal of the American College of Surgeons 01/2005; 199(6):880-6. · 4.55 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to evaluate contemporary outcomes associated with the management of gallbladder cancer. The medical records of 48 consecutive patients with gallbladder cancer treated at our institution from January 1981 through November 2001 were reviewed. Survival was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method (mean follow-up period 24 months) and the log-rank test. Prognostic factors were analyzed using Cox regression. Mean patient age was 68 years. Sixty percent of patients were female. Thirty-nine patients (81%) underwent laparotomy or laparoscopy. Eighteen patients (38%) underwent complete resection (10 simple cholecystectomies and 8 radical cholecystectomies). There were no procedure-related deaths. The overall 5-year survival rate was 13%. Patients who underwent complete resection had a higher 5-year survival rate (31%) than patients who underwent palliative surgery or no surgery (0%; P<0.05). For patients who underwent radical cholecystectomy, the 5-year survival rate was 60%. For the 18 patients who underwent curative resection, positive lymph node metastasis and patient age over 65 were factors predictive of significantly worse survival. Overall survival rates for patients with gallbladder cancer remain poor. Although radical surgery can be performed safely, it is associated with long-term survival only in a highly select subset of patients with gallbladder cancer.
Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery 02/2004; 8(2):183-90. · 2.83 Impact Factor
