The Impact of Introducing a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Trauma Consultation Service to an Academic Level 1 Trauma Center.

OBJECTIVE: Previous retrospective studies suggest that early physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) consultation for trauma patients improves outcome and reduces acute care length of stay (LOS). There have not been controlled studies to evaluate this impact. This study assesses the impact of PM&R consultations on acute trauma patients. DESIGN: This study compared measured outcomes before and after the introduction of a PM&R consultation service to the trauma program at a large academic hospital. The primary outcome measure was acute care LOS. RESULTS: The 274 historical controls and 76 patients who received a PM&R consultation were not different in injury severity score, age, or sex. Length of stay was not different between the two groups. However, when early (≤8 days after injury) versus late (>8 days) consults were compared, the early group had a markedly lower LOS (12 vs. 30 days, P < 0.001). When adjusted for injury severity score, an early consult was associated with an 11.8-day lower LOS (P < 0.001). The early consult group also had fewer complications and less usage of benzodiazepines and antipsychotics. CONCLUSIONS: An acute care PM&R consultation of 8 days or less after admission is associated with a shorter acute care LOS, fewer complications, and less use of benzodiazepines and antipsychotics.

Hospital costs associated with laparoscopic and open inguinal herniorrhaphy.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the total hospital costs associated with elective laparoscopic and open inguinal herniorrhaphy. METHODS: A prospectively maintained database was used to identify patients who underwent elective inguinal herniorrhaphy from April 2009 to March 2011. A retrospective review of electronic patient records was performed along with a standardized case-costing analysis using data from the Ontario Case Costing Initiative. The main outcomes were operating room (OR) and total hospital costs. RESULTS: Two hundred eleven patients underwent elective unilateral inguinal herniorrhaphy (117 open and 94 laparoscopic), and 33 patients underwent elective bilateral inguinal herniorrhaphy (9 open and 24 laparoscopic). OR and total hospital costs for open unilateral inguinal hernia repair were significantly lower than for the laparoscopic approach (median total cost, $3207.15 vs $3723.66; P < .001). OR and total hospital costs for repair of elective bilateral inguinal hernias were similar between the open and laparoscopic approaches (median total cost, $4574.02 vs $4662.89; P = .827). CONCLUSIONS: In the setting of a Canadian academic hospital, when considering the repair of an elective unilateral inguinal hernia, the OR and total hospital costs of open surgery were significantly lower than for the laparoscopic techniques. There was no statistical difference between OR and total hospital costs when comparing open surgery and laparoscopic techniques for the repair of bilateral inguinal hernias. Given the perioperative benefits of laparoscopy, further studies incorporating hernia-specific outcomes are necessary to determine the cost-effectiveness of each approach and to define the optimal treatment strategy.