Association of anesthesia handovers with perioperative and short-term outcomes after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy

Background: Anesthesiologists transition patient care to combat clinician fatigue and accommodate shift limitations. Studies exploring the association of increased handovers with patient outcomes have conflicting findings. Here, we investigate the association of anesthesia handovers with perioperative outcomes in patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy.

Methods: Patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy at a single institution from 2017 to 2022 were stratified by the number of anesthesia attending and nonattending (nurse anesthetist/resident) handovers (0-1 or ≥2). Primary outcomes were intensive care unit and hospital length of stay, in addition to 30-day serious morbidity. Logistic and negative binomial regression models were adjusted for covariates related to patient and case complexity.

Results: A total of 182 patients were included. Median operative time was 720 minutes (interquartile range, 540-900 minutes). Most cases had fewer than 2 attending handovers (n = 147, 81% vs ≥2 handovers n = 35, 19%) and 2 nonattending handovers (n = 120, 71% vs ≥2 handovers n = 53, 29%). In adjusted models, there were no differences in 30-day serious morbidity and intensive care unit or hospital length of stay between the attending handover groups (0-1 vs ≥2). Patients with ≥2 non-attending handovers had similar odds of 30-day serious morbidity compared with the 0-1 group (odds ratio, 1.613, 95% confidence interval, 0.733-3.550, P = .235), but a longer total hospital (incidence rate ratio, 1.301, 95% confidence interval, 1.071-1.579, P = .008) and intensive care unit length of stay (incidence rate ratio 1.548, 95% confidence interval, 1.038-2.049, P = .030).

Conclusions: Multiple anesthesia handovers were not associated with an increased risk of serious morbidity for patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. However, increased handovers (≥2) between nonattending providers was associated with longer hospital and intensive care unit length of stays.