The Impact of In-house Attending Surgeon Supervision on the Rates of Preventable and Potentially Preventable Complications and Death at the Start of the New Academic Year

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of in-house attending surgeon supervision on the rate of preventable deaths (PD) and complications (PC) at the beginning of the academic year. All trauma patients admitted to the Los Angeles County 1 University of Southern California Medical Center over an 8-year period ending in December 2009 were reviewed. Morbidity and mortality reports were used to extract all PD/PC. Patients admitted in the first 2 months (July/ August) of the academic year were compared with those admitted at the end of the year (May/June) for two distinct time periods: 2002 to 2006 (before in-house attending surgeon supervision) and 2007 to 2009 (after 24-hour/day in-house attending surgeon supervision). During 2002 to 2006, patients admitted at the beginning of the year had significantly higher rates of PC (1.1% for July/ August vs 0.6% for May/June; adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1 to 3.2; P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in mortality (6.5% for July/August vs 4.6% for May/ June; adjusted OR, 1.1; 95% CI,0.8 to 1.5; P = 0.179). During 2007 to 2009, after institution of 24-hour/day in-house attending surgeon supervision of fellows and housestaff, there was no significant difference in the rates of PC (0.7% for July/August vs 0.6% for May/June; OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.8 to 1.3; P = 0.870) or PD (4.6% for July/August vs 3.7% for May/June; OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 0.9 to 1.7; P = 0.250) seen at the beginning of the academic year. At an academic Level I trauma center, the institution of 24-hour/day in-house attending surgeon supervision significantly reduced the spike of preventable complications previously seen at the beginning of the academic year.