Key result
Among 1,502 patients with severe injuries, only 28.4% underwent emergency procedures, resulting in an average of just 3 to 4 laparotomies per general surgeon annually, which is considered insufficient for surgical training.
Why the study?
This study evaluated the surgical volumes and types of specific surgical procedures in a single trauma center over 3 consecutive years.
Observational (n=426)
No
The low volume of emergency operations per dedicated trauma surgeon in a regional trauma center suggests that implementing an acute-care surgery model may be necessary to maintain surgical skills and training.
Low emergency volumes may limit trauma surgeon proficiency; leaves open whether acute care surgery models sustain skills in level 3 data.
Purpose: This study evaluated the surgical volumes and types of specific surgical procedures in a single trauma center for 3 consecutive years.Methods: From January 2014 to December 2016 there were 9,530 injury cases in the trauma registry that were reviewed.Results: There were 1,502 patients (15.8%) with an injury severity score over 15, of which 426 (28.4%) underwent an emergency operation or had an interventional radiology procedure.There were 186 craniotomies, 87 laparotomies, and 74 interventional radiology procedures performed. Conclusion:The number of emergency operations by each dedicated trauma surgeon was very low therefore implementation of an acute-care surgery model is appropriate to consider together with changes to the training program for trauma surgeons.
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Lee et al. (2020) conducted an observational in Severe trauma (Injury Severity Score > 15) (n=426). Emergency surgical and interventional radiology procedures was evaluated on Surgical volumes and types of specific surgical procedures. Among 1,502 patients with severe injuries, only 28.4% underwent emergency procedures, resulting in an average of just 3 to 4 laparotomies per general surgeon annually, which is considered insufficient for surgical training.
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