Impact of Resident Involvement on Morbidity in Adult Patients Undergoing Fusion for Spinal Deformity.

STUDY DESIGN A retrospective study of prospectively collected data. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine whether patients undergoing spinal deformity surgery with resident involvement are at an increased risk of morbidity. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Resident involvement has been investigated in other orthopedic procedures but has not been studied in adult spinal deformity surgery. METHODS The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) is a large multicenter clinical registry that prospectively collects preoperative risk factors, intraoperative variables, and 30-day postoperative morbidity and mortality outcomes from about 400 hospitals nationwide. Current procedural terminology (CPT) codes were used to query the database for adults who underwent fusion for spinal deformity between 2005 and 2012. Patients were separated into propensity score matched groups of those with and without resident involvement. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the effect of resident involvement on the incidence of postoperative morbidity and other surgical outcomes. RESULTS Resident involvement was an independent predictor of overall morbidity [odds ratio (OR) 2.2, P < 0.0001], wound complication (OR 2.5, P = 0.0252), intra-/postoperative transfusion (OR 2.3, P < 0.0001), and length of stay > 5 days (OR 2.0, P < 0.0001). However, resident involvement was not an independent predictor for other complications, such as mortality. CONCLUSION Resident participation was associated with significantly longer operative times. As a result, higher rate of certain morbidity, but not mortality, was found, specifically for complications that have been previously associated with long operative duration. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 3.