Training general surgery residents to avoid postoperative cardiac events

Abstract

Background Expertise in cardiac risk assessment takes years to acquire, but unnecessary cardiology consultation delays treatment and consumes scarce resources. Methods A retrospective review was performed of the cardiac work-up and postoperative events during 1 year on a general surgery service. Postgraduate year 1–3 general surgery residents were instructed to obtain a cardiology consult if a patient had any of the following: (1) had undergone coronary artery intervention more than 2 years in the past; (2) was taking an anti-anginal medication (nitroglycerine, Ca channel, or β-blocker); or (3) was symptomatic or had an abnormal electrocardiogram. Whether a patient was symptomatic was to be tempered by the nature of the planned procedure. Results Supervised residents screened 720 unique patients for surgery. Cardiology consultation was obtained in 37. All but 1 (97%) patient referred to cardiology met at least 1 of the earlier-described criteria; with 8 (22%) meeting all 3 criteria. On average, patients referred to the cardiologists were taking 1.4 anti-anginal medications; and 1 patient sustained a fatal myocardial infarction after referral. Cardiac imaging (stress test or catheterization) was performed on 24 (65%) referred patients and was positive in 8 (33%). After minimizing cardiac risk by medication or intervention, the surgery service declined to offer the planned procedure to 11 (30%) of the referred patients and an additional 5 (15%) patients declined surgery. The overall surgical mortality was 2%. None of the patients in this series sustained a postoperative myocardial infarction or cardiac death. Postoperative supraventricular tachycardia was not influenced significantly by cardiology consultation (5% referred patients vs 1% nonreferred). Conclusions Our criteria for obtaining cardiology consultation in general surgery patients appears to appropriately select patients in need of further work-up. Information obtained from a cardiac consultation frequently leads to a re-evaluation of the risks and benefits of surgery by both surgeons and patients.