A new study published in Spine examines 1,400 consecutive patients who underwent elective spine surgery at Duke University Hospital and measures 30-day readmissions.
The study authors examined elective spine surgeons that occurred between 2008 and 2010. The researchers found:
1. There were 132 unplanned early readmissions, accounting for 9.4 percent of the cases.
2. The most common reasons for readmission were:
• Infection: 34.8 percent
• Pain: 19.7 percent
3. A quarter of the readmissions required patients to return to the operating room.
4. Most of the patients were readmitted through the emergency department from home — 58 percent; another 25.2 percent were readmitted from a skilled nursing facility.
5. Patients were most likely to be readmitted 9.8 days after discharge. Once they were readmitted, they stayed at the hospital for 7.5 days on average.
"This study suggests that infection and refractory pain were the most common primary reasons for unplanned readmissions," the study authors concluded. "Efforts at reducing unplanned early readmission after elective spine surgery should be focused on more elective post discharge care."