Context: Gallstone disease is a major health problem addressed by general surgeons, with approximate incidence of 10-15% in the Western world. With increasing focus in the healthcare literature on cost containment, controlling excess lengths of hospital stay (LOS) in this population is paramount. The aim of this study was to determine the factors that influence LOS in cholecystectomy patients to examine whether results would indicate a possible improvement in perioperative patient care and decrease costs at our community hospital in a suburban setting.
Methods: This is a retrospective review during a two-year period from 1/1/2013-12/31/2014 of patients admitted from the emergency department and undergoing cholecystectomy during the same admission. The study team analyst conducted univariate analysis for significant predictors of length of stay.
Results: The authors identified a total analytic sample of 312 subjects who met inclusion criteria. Sample patients admitted to the surgical service had a statistically significant shorter LOS than those patients who were not (3.4 days +/- 1.7 vs 5.6 days +/- 3.0; p value <0.0005). There was also a moderate positive correlation between decreased time to surgery and LOS (Pearson R-value 0.420, p value < 0.0005). Patients admitted to non-surgical services were more likely to have comorbidities like COPD, DM, arrhythmia, CAD, anticoagulation, CHF and previous abdominal surgeries. However, when placing each comorbidity into an analysis of covariance, patients admitted to surgical services still had a significantly shorter LOS (p value < 0.0005).
Conclusions: Admission to a non-surgical service and increased length of time to surgical intervention were associated with prolonged LOS and potentially increased cost in cholecystectomy patients in this study sample. Though patients admitted to non-surgical services are "sicker," they still had prolonged LOS when controlling for comorbidities. Based on these findings, the establishment of an acute care surgery service may help to address this disparity in care.
Keywords: cholecystectomy; gallbladder disease; length of stay.