A new study underscores the importance of the adage “practice makes perfect,” especially when it comes to surgery.
It’s long been understood that the frequency at which surgeons perform and hospitals host complex procedures has a bearing on how patients fare, but the study from the Clarify Health Institute makes the link even clearer. The researchers looked at almost 180,000 hip and knee replacements and found higher-volume surgeons had higher quality across a number of metrics, like readmissions, post-surgery emergency room visits, and even costs.
“It’s just human nature: We need practice,” said Leah Binder, CEO of the patient safety organization The Leapfrog Group, who was not involved in the study. “We need to do things repeatedly in order to be the best at them.”
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