Mental Illness and Spine Surgery — You Have a Role
A practical approach for handling a common problem
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Smart Practice: Before operating on patients with emotional distress, send an email to their mental health professionals or family doctors asking, “Is this as good as it gets?”
What’s the Claim?
A large-database study found that patients with anxiety or depression were more likely to be readmitted or seen in the emergency department 30 or 90 days after outpatient ACDF, and those with severe mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or other disorders involving psychosis) were more likely to have those events as well as much higher odds of reoperation at 90 days (odds ratio 2.4 [95% CI 1.3 to 4.0]) and one year (OR 1.9 [1.3 to 2.8]).
- Don’t hit “delete.” You can do something about this.
