A team of researchers in the Montefiore Einstein Department of Anesthesiology analyzed retrospective data from more than 140,000 patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery to evaluate their postoperative respiratory outcomes in relation to experience level of anesthesiology residents who cared for them during their surgery. The researchers found that patients who were extubated by junior residents – those in their first clinical anesthesia year – had increased odds of early postoperative desaturation. As residents progressed from junior residents to second and third-year residents, some trainees demonstrated an improvement in their patients’ postoperative desaturation rate, while others showed a decline. Residents who displayed a decline in improvement of their patients’ postoperative desaturation rate also had an increased odds of major respiratory complication for their patients. This analysis demonstrates the importance of focusing on residents who show a decline in performance in order to prevent adverse postoperative outcomes.

Read the full publication in the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia.