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.