Busy hospitals may not be best choice
By Nathan Seppa
Since 1979, a host of studies has suggested that people in need of surgery should search out a hospital where a lot of surgeries of the required type are performed (SN: 7/17/99, p. 44). At a place such as that, the theory goes, the most experienced professionals will do the best job. A new study finds that this so-called volume benefit may be overrated for a common heart operation.
Physician Eric D. Peterson of the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, N.C., and his colleagues reviewed the outcomes of 267,089 coronary artery bypass graft operations done at 439 hospitals during 2000 and 2001.