Studies show that surgery on 'surgeon's birthday' increases patient mortality

A research team at the University of California, Los Angeles said, 'Elderly patients who have had emergency surgery on a surgeon's birthday have a higher 30-day mortality rate (the rate of death within 30 days) than patients who had surgery on other days. Was announced. The researchers suggest that external factors may influence the outcome of surgery.

Patient mortality after surgery on the surgeon's birthday: observational study | The BMJ
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4381

Elderly patients 23% more likely to die if their emergency surgery takes place on the surgeon's birthday
https://www.psychnewsdaily.com/elderly-emergency-surgery-patients-23-more-likely-to-die-if-operation-takes-place-on-surgeons-birthday/

The research team investigated 980,876 surgeons performed by 47,849 surgeons in hospitals in the United States. Of these, 2064 cases, which is 0.2% of the total, are said to have had the surgeon's birthday as the surgery date. All patients are elderly people aged 60 to 99 years old, and all operations are general emergency surgery such as cardiovascular surgery, femoral fracture surgery, appendectomy surgery, and small bowel resection surgery.

The results of the analysis revealed that the 30-day mortality rate for surgery performed by surgeons on their birthdays was 6.9%, higher than the typical 30-day mortality rate of 5.9%. According to the research team, the 30-day mortality rate of surgery performed on the birthday is higher than usual even if the number of surgeries performed other than the birthday, the relationship between the birthday and the day of the week, and the patient's symptoms are taken into consideration. Can be said to be significantly higher.

The research team explained why the 30-day mortality rate of surgery is high on birthdays, 'because I rush the surgery in time for the birthday event after work' 'birthday related phone calls, emails, staff I'm distracted by the increase in my private language. '

In addition, it was found that 2144 of the surgeons surveyed had scheduled surgery on the day before their birthday, and 2027 on the day after their birthday. 'It's a notable fact that some surgeons avoided their birthdays on the scheduled dates of surgery, which is a factor that discourages surgeons from focusing on surgery,' the research team said. It supports our assumptions. '

The research team noted that the study focuses on older patients and general emergency surgery and does not apply to other types of patients or surgery, saying, 'The results of this analysis are , May lead to further support for surgeons planning 'events that can be distracting to surgery,' such as birthdays. '