Patient characteristics, safety, and benefits of same-day admission for coronary artery bypass grafting

Background. The move toward outpatient and same-day surgery has been phenomenal in the past several years. Efforts in this area have focused on limiting inpatient hospitalization, reducing ancillary services, and decreasing length of stay. Methods. Two hundred seventy-six DRG 107 patients who were operated on at our institutions in 1994 and registered in The Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Cardiac Surgery Database were reviewed. There were 185 patients randomly admitted to the hospital on the day of operation and 91 patients admitted 1.78 ± 1.94 days before. These patients were analyzed according to The Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Cardiac Surgery Database predicted risk group and expected operative mortality modules. Univariate analysis of all risk variables listed in The Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Cardiac Surgery Database were used to identify the difference between 176 elective procedure patients in the same-day admission group and 67 elective procedure patients in the non-same-day admission group. Results. The same-day admission group had lower expected operative mortality (1.3% versus 2.9%), fewer female patients (17% versus 29%), younger age (62 versus 67 years), and fewer patients in the higher predicted risk group. Univariate analysis showed only age and ejection fraction variables were significantly different between the two elective groups. Comorbidities predictive of elective non-same-day admission revealed that age and New York Heart Association class IV were significantly predictors. The length of stay was shorter and the total charges were less in the same-day admission group. Conclusions. There was no increase in preoperative, intraoperative, or postoperative complications in the same-day admission patients. Same-day admission was safe and cost-effective and could be carried out as a routine admission for several selected groups of patients.