The value of failure to rescue in determining hospital quality for pediatric trauma

Failure to Rescue Pediatric Recipients of Living Donor Liver Transplantation: A Single-Center Study of Technical Complications in 500 Primary Grafts

BACKGROUND

The concept of failure to rescue (FTR) has been used to evaluate the quality of care in several surgical specialties but has not been well-studied after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in children.

METHODS

This study retrospectively reviewed 500 pediatric LDLT performed at a single center between 1993 and 2022. The recipient outcomes were assessed by means of patient and graft survival rates, retransplantation rates, and arterial/portal/biliary complication rates. Graft and patient losses secondary to these complications were calculated regarding FTR for patients (FTRp) and grafts (FTRg).

RESULTS

Overall 1- and 5-year patient survival rates were 94.5% and 92.1%, respectively, the corresponding figures for graft survival being 92.7% and 89.8%. One-year hepatic artery complication rate was 3.6% (n = 18 cases), the respective rates for portal vein complications and biliary complications being 5.7% (n = 57) and 15.6% (n = 101). One-year FTRp rates for hepatic artery thrombosis, portal vein thrombosis, anastomotic biliary stricture, and intrahepatic biliary stricture were 28.6%, 9.4%, 3.6%, and 0%, respectively. The corresponding FTRg rates being 21.4%, 6.3%, 0%, and 36.4%.

CONCLUSION

Such novel analytical method may offer valuable insights for optimizing quality of care in pediatric LDLT.

Utility of Hospital Failure to Rescue for Analyzing Variation in Pediatric Postoperative Mortality

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the association between pediatric hospital performances in terms of failure to rescue (FTR), defined as postoperative mortality after a surgical complication, and mortality among patients without a surgical complication.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Forty-eight academic, pediatric hospitals; data obtained from Pediatric Health Information System database (Child Health Corporation of America, Shawnee Mission, KS) (2012-2020).

PATIENTS

Children who underwent at least one of 57 high-risk operations associated with significant postoperative mortality.

EXPOSURES

Hospitals were stratified into quintiles of reliability adjusted FTR (lower than average FTR in quintile 1 [Q1], higher than average FTR in quintile 5 [Q5]). Multivariable hierarchical regression was used to evaluate the association between hospital FTR performance and mortality among patients who did not have a surgical complication.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Among 203,242 children treated across 48 academic hospitals, the complication and overall postoperative mortality rates were 8.8% and 2.3%, respectively. Among patients who had a complication, the FTR rate was 8.8%. Among patients who did not have a complication, the mortality rate was 1.7%. There was a 6.5-fold increase in reliability adjusted FTR between the lowest and highest performing hospitals (lowest FTR hospital-2.7%; 95% CI [1.6-3.9]; highest FTR hospital-17.8% [16.8-18.8]). Complex chronic conditions were highly prevalent across hospitals (Q1, 72.7%; Q2, 73.8%; Q3, 72.2%; Q4, 74.0%; Q5, 74.8%; trend test p < 0.01). Relative to Q1 hospitals, the odds of mortality in the absence of a postoperative complication significantly increased by 33% at Q5 hospitals (odds ratio 1.33; 95% CI [1.07-1.66]). This association was consistent when limited to patients with a complex chronic condition and neonates.

CONCLUSION

FTR may be a useful and valid surgical quality measure for pediatric surgery, even when considering patients without a postoperative complication. These findings suggest practices and processes for preventing FTR at high performing pediatric hospitals might help mitigate the risk of postoperative mortality even in the absence of a postoperative complication.

Hospital Variation in Mortality After Inpatient Pediatric Surgery

OBJECTIVE

The aim was to determine the association between risk adjusted hospital perioperative mortality rates, postoperative complications, and failure to rescue (FTR) after inpatient pediatric surgery.

BACKGROUND

FTR has been identified as a possible explanatory factor for hospital variation in perioperative mortality in adults. However, the extent to which this may be the case for hospitals that perform pediatric surgery is unclear.

METHODS

The Pediatric Health Information System database (2012-2020) was used to identify patients who underwent one of 57 high-risk operations associated with significant perioperative mortality (n=203,242). Academic, pediatric hospitals (n=48) were stratified into quintiles based on risk adjusted inpatient mortality [lower than average, quintile 1 (Q1); higher than average, quintile 5 (Q5)]. Multivariable hierarchical regression was used to evaluate the association between hospital mortality rates, complications, and FTR.

RESULTS

Inpatient mortality, complication, and FTR rates were 2.3%, 8.8%, and 8.8%, respectively. Among all patients who died after surgery, only 34.1% had a preceding complication (Q1, 36.1%; Q2, 31.5%; Q3, 34.7%; Q4, 35.7%; Q5, 32.2%; trend test, P =0.49). The rates of observed mortality significantly increased across hospital quintiles, but the difference was <1% (Q1, 1.9%; Q5; 2.6%; trend test, P <0.01). Relative to Q1 hospitals, the odds of complications were not significantly increased at Q5 hospitals [odds ratio (OR): 1.02 (0.87-1.20)]. By comparison, the odds of FTR was significantly increased at Q5 hospitals [OR: 1.60 (1.30-1.96)] with a dose-response relationship across hospital quintiles [Q2-OR: 0.99 (0.80-1.22); Q3-OR: 1.26 (1.03-1.55); Q4-OR: 1.33 (1.09-1.63)].

CONCLUSIONS

The minority of pediatric surgical deaths are preceded by a postoperative complication, but variation in risk adjusted mortality across academic, pediatric hospitals may be partially explained by differences in the recognition and management of postoperative complications. Additional work is needed to identify children at greatest risk of postoperative death from perioperative complications as opposed to those at risk from pre-existing chronic conditions.

Interrater reliability of chart-based assessment of functional impairment after pediatric injury using the functional status scale

BACKGROUND

Functional impairment has been proposed as an alternative outcome for quality improvement in pediatric trauma. The functional status scale (FSS) has been used in studies of injured children, but has only been validated with resource-intensive in-person assessment. Implementation with retrospective chart-based FSS assessment would offer a simplified and scalable alternative. The purpose of this study was to evaluate interrater reliability of retrospective FSS assessment and to identify factors associated with unreliable assessment.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort of admissions to a Level I pediatric trauma center between July 2020 and June 2021 was analyzed. Two physicians and two nurse registrars reviewed charts to obtain measures of six FSS domains (mental status, sensory functioning, communication, motor functioning, feeding, and respiratory status) at discharge. Functional impairment was categorized by total FSS scores as good (6,7), mild impairment (8,9), moderate impairment (10-15), severe impairment (16-21), or very severe impairment (>21). Interrater reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation (ICC). Predictors of rater disagreement were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression.

RESULTS

The cohort included 443 children with a mean age of 7.4 years (standard deviation, 5.4 years) and median Injury Severity Score of 9 (interquartile range, 5-12). The median time per chart to assess FSS was 2 minutes (interquartile range, 1-2). Thirty-seven patients (8%) had functional impairment at discharge. Interrater reliability was excellent for total FSS score (ICC = 0.87) and good for FSS impairment categorization (ICC = 0.80). Rater disagreement of functional impairment categorization occurred in 14% of cases overall. Higher level of functional impairment and use of therapies (occupational and speech language therapy) were independently associated with more frequent rater disagreement.

CONCLUSION

Chart-based FSS assessment is feasible and reliable, but may require more detailed review for patients with higher level of impairment that require allied health therapy. Validation of chart-based assessment is needed before widespread implementation.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Prognostic/Epidemiological, Level III.

Children's surgery verification and value-based care in pediatric surgery

With the prevailing focus on increasing value in healthcare, understanding the different components of the value equation is of primary importance. Michael E. Porter's writings on the value agenda and the use of integrated practice units (IPUs) have provided easy correlation to adult disease entities with large populations sharing common pathways and providers in the diagnosis and care of these patients. In pediatric surgery, with smaller populations and larger numbers of rare or unique conditions and anatomic challenges, utilizing the concept of an IPU is more challenging. The literature has generally shown the improvements in quality of care through participation in various programs through the American College of Surgeons (ACS) such as trauma verification, or the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (NSQIP), but that participation alone does not guarantee better outcomes. Use of these programs in conjunction with participation in quality collaboratives have tended to show favorable returns on investment for these programs. We seek to demonstrate how the Children's Surgery Verification (CSV) program provides pediatric surgeons an effective vehicle with which to engage the value agenda, evaluating and improving care over the care continuum in order to improve the function of children's hospitals as larger integrated units.

Failure-to-rescue and mortality after emergent pediatric trauma laparotomy: How are the children doing?

INTRODUCTION

Emergent trauma laparotomy is associated with mortality rates of up to 40%. There is a paucity of data on the outcomes of emergent trauma laparotomies performed in the pediatric population. The aim of our study was to describe the outcomes, including mortality and FTR, among pediatric trauma patients undergoing emergent laparotomy and identify factors associated with failure-to-rescue (FTR).

METHODS

We performed a one-year (2017) retrospective cohort analysis of the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program dataset. All pediatric trauma patients (age <18 years) who underwent emergent laparotomy (laparotomy performed within 2 h of admission) were included. Outcome measures were major in-hospital complications, overall mortality, and failure-to-rescue (death after in-hospital major complication). Multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify factors independently associated with failure-to-rescue.

RESULTS

Among 120,553 pediatric trauma patients, 462 underwent emergent laparotomy. Mean age was 14±4 years, 76% of patients were male, 49% were White, and 50% had a penetrating mechanism of injury. Median ISS was 25 [13-36], Abdomen AIS was 3 [2-4], Chest AIS was 2 [1-3], and Head AIS was 2 [0-5]. The median time in ED was 33 [18-69] minutes, and median time to surgery was 49 [33-77] minutes. The most common operative procedures performed were splenectomy (26%), hepatorrhaphy (17%), enterectomy (14%), gastrorrhaphy (14%), and diaphragmatic repair (14%). Only 22% of patients were treated at an ACS Pediatric Level I trauma center. The most common major in-hospital complications were cardiac (9%), followed by infectious (7%) and respiratory (5%). Overall mortality was 21%, and mortality among those presenting with hypotension was 31%. Among those who developed in-hospital major complications, the failure-to-rescue rate was 31%. On multivariate analysis, age younger than 8 years, concomitant severe head injury, and receiving packed red blood cell transfusion within the first 24 h were independently associated with failure-to-rescue.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show that emergent trauma laparotomies performed in the pediatric population are associated with high morbidity, mortality, and failure-to-rescue rates. Quality improvement programs may use our findings to improve patient outcomes, by increasing focus on avoiding hospital complications, and further refinement of resuscitation protocols.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level IV STUDY TYPE: Epidemiologic.

Complications and Failure to Rescue After Inpatient Pediatric Surgery

OBJECTIVE

To describe the frequency and patterns of postoperative complications and FTR after inpatient pediatric surgical procedures and to evaluate the association between number of complications and FTR.

SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND

FTR, or a postoperative death after a complication, is currently a nationally endorsed quality measure for adults. Although it is a contributing factor to variation in mortality, relatively little is known about FTR after pediatric surgery.

METHODS

Cohort study of 200,554 patients within the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatric database (2012-2016) who underwent a high (≥ 1%) or low (< 1%) mortality risk inpatient surgical procedures. Patients were stratified based on number of postoperative complications (0, 1, 2, or ≥3) and further categorized as having undergone either a low- or high-risk procedure. The association between the number of postoperative complications and FTR was evaluated with multivariable logistic regression.

RESULTS

Among patients who underwent a low- (89.4%) or high-risk (10.6%) procedures, 14.0% and 12.5% had at least 1 postoperative complication, respectively. FTR rates after low- and high-risk procedures demonstrated step-wise increases as the number of complications accrued (eg, low-risk- 9.2% in patients with ≥3 complications; high-risk-36.9% in patients with ≥ 3 complications). Relative to patients who had no complications, there was a dose-response relationship between mortality and the number of complications after low-risk [1 complication - odds ratio (OR) 3.34 (95% CI 2.62-4.27); 2 - OR 10.15 (95% CI 7.40-13.92); ≥3-27.48 (95% CI 19.06-39.62)] and high-risk operations [1 - OR 3.29 (2.61-4.16); 2-7.24 (5.14-10.19); ≥3-20.73 (12.62-34.04)].

CONCLUSIONS

There is a dose-response relationship between the number of postoperative complications after inpatient surgery and FTR, ever after common, "minor" surgical procedures. These findings suggest FTR may be a potential quality measure for pediatric surgical care.