Defining and improving postoperative care.

Although much is known regarding the importance of postoperative care, the surveillance of patients after 30 days from the surgical procedure can be improved. It must be recognized that mortality between 30 and 90 days exceeds what is commonly considered "operative mortality"—death within 30 days of surgery. Significant effort should be dedicated to the design of predictive models to prevent readmission. More importantly, surgeons must develop better models to manage the complications that arise after readmission to prevent mortality in readmitted patients. Finally, current guidelines for oncologic surveillance are an area of controversy, and future studies are needed for better direction of resources.

Duke Scholars

Author Thomas Anthony D'Amico Surgery, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery