How long will a patient stay in the hospital to recover from surgery?

Have you ever thought about what happens when you undergo surgery? You likely have questions going through your mind, such as:

"Will I survive?"

"How long do I need to recover?"

To help alleviate these concerns, we investigated data from patients undergoing surgery at the Seoul National University Hospital, Republic of Korea.

Surgical Departments

At the Seoul National University Hospital, surgeries fall under four general categories:

▸ General Surgery

Most surgeries fall under this department. General surgery covers, but is not limited to:

Head and Neck
Digestive System
Abdomen & Internal Organs
Breast, Skin, and Soft Tissue
Blood Vessels
Hormonal Glands
Cancer Surgery
Trauma Care
Emergency and ICU Care

▸ Gynecology

This department covers surgeries related to the female reproductive system. This includes:

Uterus
Ovaries
Cervix
Fallopian Tubes
Vagina and Vulva

▸ Thoracic

This department specializes in surgeries involving the chest organs, including:

Heart
Lungs
Esophagus
Trachea

▸ Urological

This department addresses two major fields: the urinary tract and the male reproductive system. Organs that may be operated on include, but are not limited to:

Kidneys
Ureters
Bladder and Urethra
Penis
Testes
Scrotum
Prostate

Surgery Types

There are three broad categories of surgical procedures that are performed:

Open Surgery: Traditional surgical technique requiring larger incisions to access the surgical site directly. Provides the surgeon with a full view of the anatomy and direct manual access to organs. Typically associated with longer recovery times but remains essential for complex procedures.

Videoscopic Surgery: Minimally invasive approach using small incisions through which cameras and specialized instruments are inserted. The surgeon operates while viewing the surgical site on video monitors. Results in reduced post-operative pain and faster recovery compared to open techniques.

Robotic Surgery: Advanced surgical system where surgeons control robotic arms from a console. Offers enhanced precision, 3D visualization, and greater range of motion than human hands. Benefits include smaller incisions, reduced blood loss, and typically shorter hospital stays.

Putting It All Together

Take a step back to see how different surgical departments compare.

The interactive Sankey diagram below tracks how patients flow from:

1. Surgical Departments

2. Surgical Procedures

3. Patient Recovery Outcomes

Different Ways to Interact

You can hover over connections to see detailed patient flow statistics, or click on specific nodes to filter the diagram and focus on particular pathways.
The width of each flow represents the volume of patients following that particular pathway.
You can click on a node to filter the diagram and focus on that pathway.
Use the animation controls below to see how the diagram builds step by step, revealing patterns in surgical outcomes across departments and approaches.
You can use the Reset View button to clear any filters and return to the diagram to its beginning state.

Key Takeaways

From this visualization, everyone should learn the different recovery periods within each surgery type in departments and the flow of the diagram is what helps the Sankey Diagram succeed in explaining it.

Here are three key takeaways:

1. Robotic surgery is among the lowest across departments, as seen in the robotic pathway of our visualization and most patients have a recovery time of less than 3 days.

2. Another key takeaway from the Sankey Diagram is that across all departments and surgery types, the death category has the least amount of patients.

3. Across the departments most surgery types have the most patients with a recovery persiod of 3-7 days.