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Impact of an Anesthesia Care Handover-Checklist on Adverse Perioperative Outcome

Conditions
Major Surgery
Interventions
Other: AnCHor-Checklist implementation
Registration Number
NCT04582513
Lead Sponsor
University Hospital Heidelberg
Brief Summary

The aim of the study is to collect information on feasibility and effect size of a confirmatory, prospective study with the question: Does a standardized checklist during intraoperative handover of anaesthesia care reduce the rate of postoperative complications?

Detailed Description

During clinical routine, intraoperative handover of anaesthesia care occurs frequently. This handover between two anaesthesiologists requires the transmission of all relevant information concerning the patient and the ongoing procedure. Studies regarding the influence of such handovers on patient outcome are inconclusive and mostly of retrospective nature. Some studies report a negative effect of handovers on patients mortality and outcome, however studies exist reporting no effect. A positive effect of intraoperative handovers as a result of a "second man" effect ist also possible. To increase handover quality, the German Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) recommends the application of the situation, background, assessment and recommendation (SBAR) concept. Information are arranged in those four groups with the goal of structuring the handover and incorporating all relevant information. Studies show increased accuracy of transferred information and improved comprehensibility when using the SBAR concept. Whether an intraoperative handover according to the SBAR concept reduces the rate of postoperative complications is not yet investigated. Due to lack of information regarding feasibility and effect size, the investigators plan a prospective pilot study to answer these questions. Initially, patients undergoing major surgery are recruited where handover is performed without a standardized handover. After the implementation of a checklist using the SBAR concept, this checklist will be used during intraoperative handover in recruited patients where a handover occurs. The primary endpoint is a combined endpoint consisting of all-cause mortality, readmission to any hospital, or major postoperative complications. Additionally, implementation rate and efficacy of the checklist will be evaluated.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
UNKNOWN
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
300
Inclusion Criteria
  • Age ≥ 18 years
  • Major surgeries with a duration of at least 2 h (requirement of postoperative admission to hospital for at least 1 night)
  • American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Classification 3-4
  • Informed consent
Exclusion Criteria
  • Patients incapable of consent
  • Previous surgery within the same surgical subgroup within the last 6 months
  • Pregnancy, breastfeeding
  • Patients participating in another interventional trial within the last 3 months with possible interference to the outcome of this study
  • Persons with any kind of dependency on the investigator or employed by the investigator

Study & Design

Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Study Design
Not specified
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Post-checklist implementation groupAnCHor-Checklist implementationPatients undergoing major elective surgery where intraoperative handover occurs. This handover is performed after implementation of the AnCHor-CHecklist, a standardized checklist based on the SBAR concept.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Composite of mortality, hospital readmission and major postoperative complicationswithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients that die and/or are readmitted to any hospital and/or experience any of the following: prolonged postoperative ventilation \>48 hours, major disruption of surgical wound, bleeding, pneumonia, atrial fibrillation, moderate or severe acute kidney injury, new onset of hemodialysis, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, sepsis, stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep venous thrombosis, shock, unplanned return to operating room

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
ICU admissionwithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with ICU admission

Determination of recruitment ratewithin 30 days of index surgery

Rate of recruited patients in all recruitable patients

Occurrence of moderate or severe acute kidney injurywithin 30 days after index surgery

Number of patients with moderate acute kidney injury (AKI) defined as Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) stage 2 (≥ 2-fold increase in serum-creatinine from baseline and/or urine output \< 0.5 ml/kg/h for ≥ 12 h) or severe AKI is defined as KDIGO stage 3 (≥ 3-fold serum creatinine increase from baseline and/or urine output ≤ 0.3 ml/kg/h for ≥ 24 h)

Shockduring the initial surgical procedure and within 30 days after index surgery

Number of patients with shock defined based on the corresponding International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) codes (R57.1, R57.8, R57.9)

Implementation of checkliston day of index surgery

Rate of correctly filed checklists

Intra-abdominal abcesswithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with intra-abdominal abscess defined by imaging

Myocardial infarctionduring index surgery and within 30 days after index surgery

Number of patients with myocardial infarction defined by by ST elevation in the ECG and/or troponin elevation in patients with acute chest pain

Pulmonary embolism and deep venous thromboembolismwithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with pulmonary embolism and deep venous thromboembolism defined by verification in a CT scan

Need for interventionwithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with interventions defined as endoscopy, Insertion of drains or stents

total morbiditywithin 30 days of index surgery

defined by Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI)

Major disruption of surgical woundwithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with major disruption of surgical wound defined as the need for re-operation (wound dehiscence, burst abdomen)

Cardiac arrestwithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with cardiac arrest defined as the need for cardiopulmonary resuscitation

unplanned return to operating roomwithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with unplanned return to operating room within time frame

Prolonged postoperative Ventilation >48 hourswithin 48 hours after index surgery

Number of patients with prolonged postoperative ventilation defined as ≥ 48h need of invasive mechanical ventilation via endotracheal tube or need for tracheostomy due to prolonged weaning

New onset of hemodialysiswithin 30 days after index surgery

Number of patients with new onset of need for renal replacement therapy

Strokewithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with stroke defined by verification in a CT scan

Hospital length of staywithin 30 days of index surgery

Documented in patient charts

ICU length of staywithin 30 days of index surgery

Documented in patient charts

Bleedingwithin the initial surgical procedure and within 30 days after index surgery

Number of patients with bleeding complications defined as major bleeding with transfusion requirement and/ or the need for re-operation (hematothorax, relaparotomy, and removal of hematoma)

Insufficiency of anastomoseswithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with insufficiency of anastomoses defined by International Study Group of Rectal Cancer (ISREC)-definition

Pneumoniawithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with pneumonia defined as occurence of pneumonia verified by X-ray

Atrial fibrillationwithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with atrial fibrillation defined as new onset of atrial fibrillation without any known episode prior to index surgery

Sepsiswithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with sepsis defined according to Sepsis3 guidelines

All-cause mortalitywithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients died within 30 days of index surgery

Readmission to any hospitalwithin 30 days of index surgery

Number of patients with any readmission to an acute care hospital

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital Heidelberg

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Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

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