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Summary: Little is known about post-acute care following hip fracture surgery. We investigated discharge destinations from surgical hospitals for nine Canadian provinces. We identified significant heterogeneity in discharge patterns across provinces suggesting different post-acute recovery pathways. Further work is required to determine the impact on patient outcomes and health system costs. Introduction: To examine discharge destinations by provinces in Canada, adjusting for patient, injury, and care characteristics. Methods: We analyzed population-based hospital discharge abstracts from a national administrative database for community-dwelling patients who underwent hip fracture surgery between 2004 and 2012 in Canada. Discharge destination was categorized as rehabilitation, home, acute care, and continuing care. Multinomial logistic regression modeling compared proportions of discharge to rehabilitation, acute care, and continuing care versus home between each province and Ontario. Adjusted risk differences and risk ratios were estimated. Results: Of 111,952 previously community-dwelling patients aged 65 years or older, 22.5% were discharged to rehabilitation, 31.6% to home, 27.0% to acute care, and 18.2% to continuing care, with significant variation across provinces (p < 0.001). The proportion of discharge to rehabilitation ranged from 2.4% in British Columbia to 41.0% in Ontario while the proportion discharged home ranged from 20.3% in Prince Edward Island to 52.2% in British Columbia. The proportion of discharge to acute care ranged from 15.2% in Ontario to 58.8% in Saskatchewan while the proportion discharged to continuing care ranged from 9.3% in Manitoba and Prince Edward Island to 22.9% in New Brunswick. Adjusting for hospital type changed the direction of the provincial effect on discharge to continuing care in two provinces, but statistical significance remained consistent with the primary analysis. Conclusions: Discharge destination from the surgical hospital after hip fracture is highly variable across nine Canadian provinces. Further work is required to determine the impact of this heterogeneity on patient outcomes and health system costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we attempt to determine whether delays in scheduling operation affect waiting time in a queue for elective surgery. We analyze the waiting-list management system in a Canadian hospital. We estimate the impact of scheduling delays by modeling access to treatment as a multistate process. We found that patients with any delay in scheduling surgery had longer waiting times than patients without delays. For certain sources of delays, the admission rate was 50-60% lower compared with the rate for admissions without a delay independent of urgency of surgical intervention. Our findings support a concern that waiting time for elective surgery is not simply determined by how many patients are on the waiting list, or by how urgently they need treatment, but also by the waiting list management practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the relationship between the length of a waiting list for elective vascular surgery and the delay before undergoing the operation., Methods: We undertook a prospective cohort study of patients registered on the waiting list for elective vascular surgery at an acute care hospital in Ontario. Regression analysis of wait times to express the admission rate in one group relative to another, with the ratio of rates being a measure of the difference between groups., Results: List length at registration was associated with length of wait (log-rank test 596.4, p < 0.0001). Patients who were registered when the list length exceeded the weekly service capacity had 70% lower conditional probability of undergoing surgery than those on a list with fewer patients (rate ratio 0.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.26-0.36) after adjustment for sex, age, procedure and period. Registering more than 5 patients when the list was short had an independent effect (rate ratio 0.61, CI 0.45-0.82)., Conclusions: The number of registrants on a surgical wait list has an effect on the length of delay in providing necessary treatment. Our results suggest that a regulated list-length policy may contribute to reducing waiting times. Hospital managers may also use the findings to reduce uncertainty in reporting expected waits given the current list size, thereby improving resource planning.

Background: There is uncertainty regarding the frequency of adverse events while on a surgical waiting list. We assess the relationship between the duration of wait for cholecystectomy and the risk of emergency admission., Methods: We analyzed time to emergency admission in a group of 761 patients who underwent cholecystectomy after being seen in clinic for biliary colic and placed on waiting lists at 2 acute care centres in Ontario, from 1997 to 2000., Results: Emergency admissions due to worsening symptoms occurred in 51 patients (6.7%) waiting for elective cholecystectomy. The weekly rate of emergency admission was low during the first 19 weeks on the list, but increased almost by a factor of 3 after 20 weeks (rate ratio 2.7; 95% confidence interval 2.0-3.7). Relative to the first 4 weeks on the list, the rate was 1.6 times higher after 20 weeks, 2 times higher after 28 weeks and 7 times higher after 40 weeks., Interpretation: The probability that a patient on a waiting list will be admitted for emergency cholecystectomy consistently increases with the duration of wait, particularly after 20 weeks.

Background: Referral pattern is a potential confounding factor when waiting-list performance is reported across hospitals or periods. A common concern is the ability to accurately estimate proportions of patients undergoing surgery in the recommended time without considering emergency caseload. In this study, the relation between emergency referrals and the rate of elective admissions to hospital within the recommended time was estimated., Design: A prospective cohort study., Setting: An acute care hospital in Kingston, Ont., Patients: Between 1994 and 1999, 1,173 consecutive patients accepted for elective vascular surgery., Main Outcome Measures: The proportion of patients who underwent surgery within the recommended time, and time to surgery., Study Variables: The weekly number of emergency cases, enrolment periods, urgency and type of surgery., Results: Overall, the proportion of patients who underwent surgery within recommended time was 0.45, (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.42-0.48). Adjusted for enrolment period, urgency and type of surgery, the estimated proportion was 0.57, (95% CI, 0.49-0.64). Compared with surgery for peripheral vascular disease, the odds of the procedure being done within the recommended time were 34% lower for aortic abdominal aneurysm repair and 41% lower for carotid endarterectomy. After adjustment for the case-mix and access attributes, the rate of elective admission within recommended time was on average 30% lower for weeks in which there were 1 to 2 emergency cases (rate ratio [RR] = 0.70, [95% CI, 0.53- 0.93]), and 39% lower for weeks with 3 or more emergency cases (RR = 0.61 [95% CI, 0.53-0.83]), relative to weeks with no emergency cases., Conclusions: When there is an increase in the number of emergency cases, a lower proportion of patients undergo elective surgery within the recommended time. Thus, when performance of surgical servces is evaluated, the probability of patients undergoing elective surgery on time should be adjusted relative to the number of emergency referrals.