You may think that your primary surgeon is present in the operating room for your entire procedure- but that may not always be the case. Oftentimes, the main surgeon leaves a surgery before it is completed to begin work on another procedure that was scheduled to overlap the first.

Ruth L. Newhouse Associate Professor of Health Care Policy and Medicine Anupam B. Jena, MD, PhD, published a study in JAMA investigating whether perioperative outcomes are worse when surgeries overlap. The study’s lead author was Eric Sun, MD, PhD, Assistant professor of anesthesiology, perioperative, and pain medicine at Stanford Medical School.

Studying a group of 66,430 adults undergoing common procedures, the study team found that overlapping surgeries did not affect in-hospital mortality or post-operative complication rates in the majority of patients. However, two groups of patients -- those undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery and those at high predicted risk of post-operative complications – faced a higher rate of complications and mortality if they were scheduled for an overlapping procedure. Surgeries scheduled with an overlapping surgeon took on average 30 minutes longer to complete than procedures with one dedicated surgeon.

While the study finds that overlapping surgeries are generally safe, risk may remain for some patients. The study team suggests further research on outcomes of overlapping surgeries in patients who may be particularly at risk of complications when overlapping surgery is performed.

This study has been featured in NPR, JN Learning, STAT, Medical Xpress, and 2 Minute Medicine.