Is After-Hours Orthopaedic Surgery Associated with Adverse Outcomes?

Abstract

Rates of nonunion, infectious complications, and radiation exposure are similar for after-hours and daytime surgery for intramedullary nail fixation of both femoral and tibial fractures. After-hours femoral nail fixation was associated with an increased frequency for removal of painful hardware, which may be related to technical errors associated with nonideal conditions and shorter operative times. An increase in the allocated amount of daytime operative time for orthopaedic trauma surgery has the potential to reduce minor complication rates for intramedullary nail fixation.