Outcomes and Analyses
This study sought to determine the volume of consults, and to determine if the patient progressed to surgery. Also, for those patients who had surgery, the ASA classification was determined. Cohorts including usage of preoperative anesthesia consults over time, those who went on to have surgery (specifically, the most significant surgical intervention during the inpatient or day surgery visit), and ASA classification as assigned at the time of surgery were created. Frequencies and percentages of preoperative anesthesia consults, most common types of surgery and ASA classifications were quantified. Modified Poisson regression analyses were used to provide the relative risks of consults for the most common types of surgery and place of preoperative anesthesia consults. To account for the patient-level clusters of repeated surgeries over time, the Poisson regression models used the generalized estimating equations (GEE) approach.
Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were generated using the SAS Enterprise Guide software version 7.1 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC) at ICES.