Predictors of mortality and morbidity for acute care surgery patients.

Background: As the implementation of exclusive acute care surgery (ACS) services thrives, prognostication for mortality and morbidity will be important to complement clinical management of these diverse and complex patients. Our objective is to investigate prognostic risk factors from patient level characteristics and clinical presentation to predict outcomes including mortality, postoperative complications, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and prolonged duration of hospital stay.

Methods: Retrospective review of all emergency general surgery admissions over a 1-year period at a large teaching hospital was conducted.