• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Study: Outpatient clinic surgery safer than in physician's office

Hospital Safety Connection, October 8, 2003

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Hospital Safety Connection!

A new study found that death and injury is 10 times more likely to occur during a surgical procedure done in an office setting compared to procedures performed in outpatient clinics, according to Medical Devices & Surgical Technology Week.

During the 1980s, many surgical procedures previously performed in hospitals began to be performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) or outpatient clinics. By the 1990s, more than 50% of all surgeries took place in ASCs, and more surgeries moved to the physician office setting.

Hector Vila Jr., MD, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, FL, and colleagues compared surgical outcomes for patients who underwent surgeries in ASCs with those whose procedures were performed in physician offices in Florida. The September 2003 issue of The Archives of Surgery published the study.

The researchers reviewed all adverse incidents reported to the Florida Board of Medicine for procedures performed between April 1, 2000, and April 1, 2002. They concluded that 66 adverse events occurred per 100,000 procedures performed in offices and 5.3 adverse events occurred per 100,000 procedures performed in ASCs. The death rate per 100,000 procedures was 9.2 in offices and 0.78 in ASCs.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Hospital Safety Connection!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive