Unplanned reintubation following vascular or general surgery

Intubation involves placing a tube in the windpipe to assist with breathing. After intubation the patient will then be attached to a mechanical ventilator (breathing machine) to assist with breathing. After surgery when the patient is able to breathe on their own, the tube is removed (extubated). If the patient must be intubated again, it is called reintubation. This measure evaluates general and vascular surgical procedures.

Unplanned reintubation is one potential complication of surgical care. While some patients have higher risks than others, some of these complications may be preventable.  

About this measure

This measure tracks surgical patients who experienced unplanned reintubation after their surgery, based on a sampling methodology developed by the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP).

The rate of general and vascular surgery patients who require unplanned reintubation after surgery is expressed as an odds ratio. This reports the estimated odds of an event happening at Northwestern Memorial compared to the estimated odds of that event happening in all hospitals in the ACS NSQIP database. A number of 1.0 means the hospital is performing as expected. A number less than 1.0 means the hospital is performing better than expected. A number greater than 1.0 means the hospital is performing worse than expected.
 

Note: While Northwestern Memorial results may be higher or lower than ACS NSQIP comparisons each period, our most recent performance is considered by ACS NSQIP to be "as expected" within the range expected for this surgical outcome.  Given the number of patients in the measure, the results are statistically the same.

In this case, a lower number is better.