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Background: Complications occurring during the first postoperative year after lung transplantation increase the risk of long-term mortality. These events often lead to prolonged and repeated hospitalizations. We sought to assess the relationship between days outside the hospital or hospital-free days (HFD) during the first post-transplant year among 1-year survivors and subsequent retransplant-free survival. Methods: In a single-center study, we derived total inpatient days (initial transplant episode, readmission, and emergency room/observation) from the electronic medical record of lung transplant recipients who survived 1 year. The cohort was divided into HFD quartiles and Kaplan-Meier curves of subsequent transplant-free survival were compared with log-rank analysis. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to test the association of HFD with outcome and adjusted for selected variables. Results: Among 238 patients, 42 deaths and 2 retransplants occurred after a median of 3.6 years post-transplant. The median HFD was 341 (interquartile range: 324, 348). Estimated transplant-free survival at 3 and 5 years post-transplant in the lowest quartile of HFD (79% and 56%, respectively) was considerably worse compared with the first quartile (98% and 94%; p

IntroductionThe collection and evaluation of patient-reported outcomes is essential to the development of patient and family centered care. Current patient surveying techniques are limited by delayed response times and restriction to specific health systems. The use of random-domain intercept technology (RDIT), by Real-Time Interactive World-Wide Intelligence (RIWI, Toronto, ON, Canada) mitigates current barriers by creating a dynamic real-time feedback environment and providing a mass sampling technique.MethodsRDIT was employed to survey a wide sample of respondents across the United States (US). Respondents who self-identified as having had a surgical procedure or cared for someone having a surgical procedure were included in the analysis.Results1,004 participants completed the survey and answered questions regarding demographics, perioperative details, sentiments on postoperative recovery, postoperative clinical endpoints, sentiments on healthcare professionals, and opinions on future surgical care.DiscussionThe results of this cross-sectional study identified areas with potential for improvement in the patient perioperative experience that could improve the patient experience. This novel use of RDIT provided a valuable tool for real-time feedback and mass sampling allowing the creation of a dynamic healthcare environment that fosters timely and targeted improvements to patient experiences and outcomes.