In research it is found that delaying surgical procedures will increase the occurrences of infection risk and also increases the hospital cost of the patient.

This new study was published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons that Delaying surgical procedures after the admission of patient in the hospital boost the risk of infection and in result the patient is affected both physically and monetary.

This risk of infection occurrence is eminent even if with heavy prevention efforts according to strict guidelines of clinical guidelines and hospital policies. The infection risk includes urinary tract infections, surgical infections, pneumonia and sepsis. The researchers have found that infection in the patient before the surgical producers significantly high from those patients in which surgical producers performed on the same day of their admission in the hospital.

This research was conducted on one, two, five and ten days delay after the admission of the patient for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CRBG). They have noted the increase rate of infection at 5.7 percent to 18.2 percent from the first day of admission to tenth day. Same rate increase  found in the colon resection which is 8.4 to 21.6 percent increase and in Lung resection this rate found to be 10.2 to 20.6 percent increase.

Taking the mean cost of the hospital for these three research and applying the rate of increase as per research, we can estimate;

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CRBG)   $38,565 to $50,013

Colon Resection                                             $21,350 to $30,972

Lung Resection                                              $27,435 to $31,576

This research is based on the total of 163,006 samples taken from nationwide patients of 40 years and older ages. In which 87,318 patients of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CRBG), 46,728 from colon resection and 28,960 from Lung resection.

The research leader Todd R. Vogel, MD, MPH, FACS, assistant professor of surgery at the University of Medicine & Dentistry, New Jersey said. “Multiple factors can contribute to post surgical complications, including age and coexisting health issues,” and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School from New Brunswick said, . “This analysis, however, confirms a direct correlation between delaying procedures and negative patient outcomes. As pay-for-performance models become increasingly prevalent, it will be imperative for hospitals to consider policies aimed at preventing delays and thereby reducing infection rates.”

This research also showed that postoperative risks were mostly associated with CABG and colon resection leading rate increase in pneumonia and urinary tract infections and in Lung resection increasing rates leading to Pneumonia and sepsis. The data for this research collected and analyzed from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project(HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample(NIS).