CALHN leading the world in post-surgery care
03 May 2023
A world-first program to help reduce the rate of people suffering complications post-surgery has been found to dramatically reduce serious complications, substantially improve patients’ recovery, and decrease demand on the health system.
Developed, trialled, and now implemented at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), the Advanced Recovery Room Care (ARRC) Program involves closely monitoring ‘moderate-risk’ patients for 12 to 18 hours after their surgery, using existing skilled hospital staff and advanced equipment to provide specialist care tailored to their individual needs.
Between 15 and 30 per cent of patients who have surgery will have a significant complication. This often has a major impact on their health and recovery, leading to longer stays in hospital, hospital re-admission, or even death. In fact, death within 30 days after surgery is the third most common cause of death, after stroke and heart attack.
By closely monitoring these patients, staff can detect medical issues early and provide the appropriate care to ensure they don’t develop into bigger or more complicated issues requiring further hospital care.
An initial trial of the program, which was published today in the leading surgical in the world, JAMA Surgery, involved the use of four specially managed beds.
Over 12 months, it found the program was able to halve serious complications and deaths after surgery, reduce subsequent ED presentations and save an estimated 8,000 bed days or three hospital wards at the RAH each year.
Patients, on average, spent two to four days more at home after surgery, which helped to free up beds for other patients and reduce demand across the system.
The successful RAH program has now expanded to 10 beds at the RAH and, with support from RAH staff, is likely to expand to many other hospitals in upcoming months and years.
This ARRC work adopted national principles to address the ‘hidden pandemic of postoperative complications’ which arose from a national summit held in Adelaide in 2020.
Summit II will be held on 14 to 15 July this year, again in Adelaide, and will highlight how projects such as ARRC can be rapidly deployed to improve patient recovery from surgery.
The event is themed ‘turning principles into practice’ and, with the assistance of Dr Norman Swan, will involve experts taking part in discussions to identify national projects to improve quality and sustainability in surgical and peri-operative care.
Statement attributable to RAH and the University of Adelaide Professor of Anaesthesia, Professor Guy Ludbrook
Post-surgery complications are already a significant cost to the health system and this impact is predicted to substantially increase each year as the global population ages.
If we don’t address this issue now, we run the risk of life-improving and life-saving surgery becoming unaffordable and significantly less safe.
Innovative programs like ARRC have the potential to substantially improve post-surgery care, reduce the strain on our health systems, and save lives.
Statement attributable to Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) CEO, Professor Lesley Dwyer
World-class research like the ARRC Program places CALHN as an international leader in this field.
Not only does the program better support patients recovering from surgery, but importantly, it also eases demand on other areas of hospital care including the emergency department.
Exploring new ways to adapt to our ever-changing population needs is a research priority for us, as it enables us to ensure we are doing everything we can to better support the health and wellbeing of our patients, now and into the future.