Operating overnight is not associated with worse outcomes for operations performed by surgeons the subsequent day, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Eric C. Sun, MD, PhD, and colleagues examined the association between an attending surgeon operating overnight and outcomes for operations performed by that surgeon the next day. The analysis included data from 1,131 surgeons from 20 high-volume US institutions (498,234 patients) for surgical procedures performed during the day (7 AM-5 PM). The researchers found that 2.6% of procedures involved an attending surgeon who operated the night before. The adjusted incidence of in-hospital death or major complications was 5.89% among daytime operations when the attending surgeon operated the night before versus 5.87% among daytime operations when the same surgeon did not operate the night before, with adjustments for operation type, surgeon fixed effects, and observable patient characteristics. “These results provide reassurance concerning the practice of having attending surgeons take overnight call and still perform operations the following morning,” the authors write.
