Feasibility Of DAH30 in a Single Australian Cardiac Centre

Abstract

Postoperative days alive and at home within 30 days (DAH30) is a well described surrogate and quantitative measure of the quality of care received in hospital and the patient’s recovery. Time at home is an important patient-centred outcome that is highly valued by patients, clinicians, administrators, and the community. Days alive and at home within 30 days is a more sensitive measure of quality than the traditional postoperative length of stay, which does not detect early death or readmissions. It may also prove to be a useful benchmark between surgical centres and patient populations [ [1] Myles PS, Shulman MA, Heritier S, Wallace S, McIlroy DR, McCluskey S, et al. Validation of days at home as an outcome measure after surgery: a prospective cohort study in Australia. BMJ Open. 2017;7:e015828. Google Scholar ]. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of calculating DAH30 for cardiac surgical patients in a single Australian centre, with a view to proposing its calculation at Australian and New Zealand Collaborative Perfusion Registry (ANZCPR) registry sites across Australasia.