Preventable Emergency Department Visits After Colorectal Surgery

This study from the Department of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, found that postoperative Emergency Department visits within 30 days after discharge after colorectal surgery are both common and time consuming. Approximately one third of these Emergency Department visits are potentially preventable. Pain and stoma-related complaints are more common in those visits that are thought to be preventable. Primary non-English language is strongly associated with a potentially preventable Emergency Department visit and points to a need for improved transition of care and follow-up in these patients. Emergency Departments are essential diagnostic and therapeutic components of a healthcare system and thus will always play a role in postoperative care. Nevertheless, there is likely a subpopulation of patients, especially those who are primary non-English speakers, whose postoperative complications can be addressed in the outpatient setting without an Emergency Department visit.