2024 Volume 40 Issue 2 Pages 16-20
Objective: This study aimed to determine whether the prognosis of the patients who underwent laparoscopic or robot-assisted surgery changes if the postoperative examination is performed by an attending or non-attending physician.
Methods: The medical records of 324 laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgeries performed at the hospital between January 1 and December 31, 2022, were reviewed retrospectively to determine the association between the physician who performed the postoperative examinations and post-discharge complications.
Results: The examinations were performed 2-3 days postoperatively by the attending physician in 281 cases (86％) and non-attending physician in 43 cases (14％). There were 23 post-discharge adverse events (7.1％). The adverse event rate were 18/281 (6.4％) and 5/43 (11％) in the attending and non-attending physician groups, respectively, with no significant differences (p＝0.231). Nineteen adverse events were judged to be surgery-related; 14/281 (4.9％) and 5/43 (11％) in the attending and non-attending physician groups, respectively, with no significant differences (p＝0.122). There were no post-discharge complications requiring re-hospitalization.
Post-discharge complications were mostly grade 1 in the Clavien-Dindo classification, and none were grade ≥3. The incidence of post-discharge complications did not differ according to the physician who performed the examinations.
Conclusion: The results suggest that postoperative examinations may not necessarily have to be performed by the attending physician.
