Is Length of Stay Influenced by the Weekday On Which Lumbar Surgery is Performed?

Background: Reducing length of stay (LOS) in a safe manner has the potential to save significant costs for the care of patients undergoing elective lumbar spine surgery. Due to the relative absence on weekends of staff required for discharging patients to rehabilitation or nursing facilities, we hypothesize that patients undergoing lumbar surgery later in the week have a longer LOS than their counterparts.

Objective: To analyze the effect of day of the week for lumbar surgery on LOS.

Methods: Patients undergoing surgery for lumbar degenerative disease were prospectively enrolled in the multicenter quality and outcomes database registry. A multivariable proportional odds regression model was built with LOS as the outcome of interest and patient and surgical variables as covariates.

Results: A total of 11 897 patients were analyzed. Among those discharged home, the regression analysis demonstrated significantly higher odds of longer LOS for patients undergoing surgery on Friday as compared to Monday (P < .001). Among those discharged to a facility, there were significantly higher odds of longer LOS for patients undergoing surgery on Wednesday (P < .001), Thursday (P < .001), and Friday (P = .002) as compared to Monday.

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that lumbar patients undergoing fusions and those discharged to a facility have longer LOS when surgery is later in the week. Scheduling these patients for surgery earlier in the week and ensuring adequate resources for patient disposition on weekends may lead to LOS reduction and cost savings for hospitals, payers, and patients alike.