Grant: Project Grant

Each year in Canada over a million people have a major planned surgery. To help make sure that patients are well prepared for surgery, they typically see an anesthesia doctor beforehand to make sure that their health is as good as possible before their operation. Research shows that these visits with an anesthesia doctor are helpful. Patients who see an anesthesia doctor before surgery tend to have shorter stays in hospital and are less likely to have a bad outcome. But, because Canada is a big country, many patients have to travel a long distance to see an anesthesia doctor, which costs patients time, as well as money in terms of gas and parking. Plus, these long drives also contribute to climate change. An alternative to seeing an anesthesia doctor in person is to have a 'virtual' visit, using a video chat system or telephone call. When the COVID pandemic started, virtual visits for anesthesia doctors were suddenly introduced in Ontario to help avoid spread of COVID. While some hospitals used a lot of these virtual visits, others didn't. These different rates of virtual visit use create what scientists call a 'natural experiment' that can help researchers better understand if a virtual visit with an anesthesia doctor is not worse than an in person visit in terms of helping patients to avoid complications after surgery and get home sooner. We plan to research this natural experiment, and if we find that virtual visits are not worse than in person, this will give patients more choice and confidence in selecting the type of visit with an anesthesia doctor that works best for them in preparing for surgery. These results might also help the health care system to work more efficiently in helping patients get the surgeries that they need.