Holiday surgery dangers: what patients should know

Undergoing surgery can result in complications any time of the year, but the likelihood of encountering serious and even deadly problems increases around the holidays, a top expert says.

There’s an even worse time than the holidays to schedule surgery – and that’s right afterward, in the first week of January, NewsMax Health reports.

“It’s very important to take the timing of your surgery into consideration,” Eugene Litvak, Ph.D, a national expert on hospital quality assurance, told Newsmax Health.  “When you choose to be admitted to the hospital can make a huge difference to your outcome.”

During the holidays, surgeons, like many other people, like to take time off. This means that if you schedule an operation during the Christmas season you may end up with a different doctor than you expected.

“Everybody is looking for a surgeon who is known for very good outcomes, is experienced, and does a large number of cases, but that type of surgeon is more likely to be on vacation during the holidays,” said Dr. Litvak, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Optimization and an adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The other problem is that hospital errors are more likely to occur during the holidays because the staff may be overstretched because of vacations and increased admissions.

“During peak times, such as during the holidays, nurses and physicians are stressed and prone to error,” he said.

According to Dr. Litvak, one of the worst times to go into the hospital is the first week of the year. “Surgeons are paid for the number of surgeries they perform, so if they don’t operate during the holidays, they have to make up for it immediately afterwards.

“Definitely don’t schedule your surgery right after New Year’s. The doctors coming back have to play catch up and may be overloaded. There is usually a surge in patients. Nurses are taking care of more patients than they should. It opens a Pandora’s box of problems,” he said.

"The post-holiday period can result in a lot of problems in hospitals.”

Of course, a patient often has no choice in the timing of urgent or emergency operations. But for elective surgeries and other in-patient procedures for which the timing is flexible, Dr. Litvak recommends these rules:

• Don’t schedule surgery between Christmas and New Year’s, when surgeons are apt to be on vacation. Also avoid the first week of January, a very busy time in most hospitals.

• If possible, delay your procedure until mid-January, when staffing levels and patient loads are back to normal.

• Early in the week is better; Mondays and Tuesdays are best. Avoid Thursdays or Fridays. 

• Ask to have your surgery scheduled for early in the morning. Outcomes are usually better for morning procedures. 

• Ask about the nurse-patient ratio for the time you are thinking about scheduling your surgery. There should be one nurse to every four patients in a surgical unit.

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