IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN PROCEDURE TIME BETWEEN WEEKDAY VERSUS WEEKEND OOCYTE RETRIEVALS?

Abstract

To evaluate whether weekday (WD) oocyte retrievals (OR) differ from weekend (WE) ORs regarding procedure duration and time in the post anesthesia care unit (PACU), and to determine whether patient-specific variables are associated with increased operative and recovery times. This was a retrospective cohort of all patients who underwent an OR from 2019 to 2020 at a single academic institution. Patients were stratified by WD versus WE OR and further grouped based on number of oocytes retrieved (1-10, 11-20, and >20). Procedure duration was documented in the electronic medical record and total time spent in PACU was calculated by subtracting the time admitted to PACU from the time of discharge. Patients were excluded if a time variable was missing or if no oocytes were retrieved. Student’s t-tests were used to compare characteristics of WD vs. WE procedures. Linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between AMH, BMI, and number of oocytes retrieved with time points. P<0.05 defined significance. During the study period, 664 patients underwent OR of which 578 met inclusion criteria and were analyzed. There were 501 WD OR cases (86%) and 77 (13%) WE ORs (Table). When stratified by number of oocytes retrieved, there was no difference in procedure duration or PACU time between WD vs. WE OR. Among patients with 1-10 oocytes retrieved, the mean BMI was lower for WE vs. WD ORs (24.5 vs. 26.9; p=0.03). Overall, longer procedure times were associated with a higher BMI (p=0.04), higher AMH (p=0.01) and more oocytes retrieved (p<0.01). Increased PACU times positively correlated with the number of oocytes retrieved (p=.04), but not AMH or BMI. Longer OR times were associated with the number of oocytes retrieved, BMI, and AMH, while PACU times were only associated with the number of oocytes retrieved. There were no differences in intraoperative or postoperative recovery times based on WD vs. WE procedures, which is reassuring for patient care and case coordination.