When considered from a provincial perspective, quantification of surgical procedures undertaken by different hospitals and healthcare networks is necessary for informing resource allocation and modelling of healthcare services. The investigators hypothesized that i) non-physiologically complex surgical procedures would account for most (\>1/2) of pediatric surgical procedures performed at both pediatric specialist hospitals and the other hospitals performing pediatric surgery, ii) surgical discharges for non-physiologically complex surgical procedures would account for most (\>1/2) in-hospital bed nights among pediatric surgical admissions at both pediatric specialist hospitals and the other hospitals performing pediatric surgery, and iii) the relative distributions of non-physiologically complex surgical procedures, but not physiologically complex procedures, would be at least moderately similar between pediatric specialist hospitals and the other hospitals performing pediatric surgery. To test these 3 hypotheses, the specific objectives of this study were to estimate i) the proportion (primary outcome) of non-physiologically complex pediatric surgical procedures, and ii) the similarity and diversity (secondary outcomes) of non-physiologically and physiologically complex surgical procedures between the pediatric specialist hospitals and the other hospitals performing pediatric surgery in Ontario, Canada.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
830,830
Eligible surgical procedures were identified using Canadian Classification of Health Interventions (CCI) therapeutic intervention codes.
The Hospital for Sick Children
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Incidence of non-physiologically complex surgery
The proportion of non-physiologically complex pediatric surgical procedures
Time frame: April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2015
Similarity
Similarity of different types of pediatric surgical procedures performed between hospitals was assessed using Yue and Clayton's index
Time frame: April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2015
Diversity
Effective number of common procedures
Time frame: April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2015
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