Learning by doing, scale effects, or neither? Cardiac surgeons after residency.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine impacts of operating surgeon scale and cumulative experience on postoperative outcomes for patients treated with coronary artery bypass grafts (CABG) by "new" surgeons. Pooled linear, fixed effects panel, and instrumented regressions were estimated.

Data sources

The administrative data included comorbidities, procedures, and outcomes for 19,978 adult CABG patients in Florida in 1998-2006, and public data on 57 cardiac surgeons who completed residencies after 1997.

Study design

Analysis was at the patient level. Controls for risk, hospital scale and scope, and operating surgeon characteristics were made. Patient choice model instruments were constructed. Experience was estimated allowing for "forgetting" effects.

Principal findings

Panel reg

SUBMITTER: Huesch MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2796309 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature