Early Discharge from Intensive Care after Cardiac Surgery is Feasible with an Adequate Fast Track, Stepdown Unit: Waikato Experience.

Background Enhanced recovery programs within cardiothoracic surgery are a well described benefit to patient postoperative outcomes. We describe our Australasian unit's experience of a day zero discharge enhanced recovery unit from the intensive care department. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on a prospectively maintained database at Waikato Cardiothoracic Unit from September 2014 till October 2017 with 1,739 patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Twenty-two (22) patients were excluded as deaths either intraoperative or in the intensive care unit (ICU) and therefore never discharged. Total population of the study was 1,717 patients. The primary endpoint of this study was to determine if there is no survival disadvantage for the day zero discharge unit compared to standard treatment in ICU at follow-up. The secondary endpoint of the study was to highlight the association between pre and postoperative variables and the impact on discharge from the ICU. Results One hundred sixty-eight (168) patients were discharged to the enhanced recovery unit (ERU) day zero. Mean number of hours spent in ICU for the day zero cohort was 7.18 (+/- 1.59. Mean Age 62.5 (+/- 11.22), M:F 4.25:1. Patients were more likely to be discharged day zero if they had a lower EuroSCORE II 1.57 (+/- 1.67) and lower preoperative creatinine 89.4 (+/- 27.5). Those admitted to the ERU on day zero postoperatively were more likely to be discharged with a lower creatinine level, a higher haemoglobin level and have less readmissions per 30 days (p < 0.05). Survival analysis demonstrated that the patients who were discharged early from ICU had significantly better follow-up survival compared to those who were discharged after 24 hours (p < 0.05). Conclusions A fast track unit increases the efficiency of an ICU and cardiac surgical department. With the advancements of cardiac surgery a higher number of patients will be suitable for a fast track method. Our unit has demonstrated that a day zero fast track unit in New Zealand can perform with adequate patient safety with no increased risk of mortality and with low rates of failure of the day zero discharge fast track therapy.