Failure to Rescue and Days Alive and Out of Hospital: Two Complementary Quality Indicators for Perioperative Care

With the implementation of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) and Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) programs, exposure to surgery is expected to result in improved outcomes. However, despite optimal, flawless perioperative care, it is estimated that about 20 percent of patients undergoing surgical procedures experience one or more postoperative complications that may manifest during the index hospitalization or after hospital discharge.¹  Complications are one of the most important drivers of prolonged hospital length of stay, hospital readmissions and increased morbidity, mortality, and health care utilization and costs.²  A proportion of postoperative adverse events may be related to unmodifiable factors such as age, frailty and comorbid conditions,³  complexity of the surgical procedure and health care processes. On the other hand, some postoperative adverse events are preventable, meaning occurrence can be attributable to medical error of planning or execution of perioperative care. Assessment of incidence and variability of postoperative preventable...