Characteristics of emergency general surgery services in Switzerland: a nationwide survey.
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BORIS DOI
Publisher DOI
PubMed ID
37470790
Description
OBJECTIVE
Running an emergency general surgery (EGS) service is challenging and requires significant personnel and institutional resources. The aim of this study was to achieve a nationwide overview of the individual EGS service organizations in public hospitals in Switzerland.
METHODS
All Swiss public hospitals with a surgical and emergency department were included and contacted by telephone. General surgeons were interviewed between December 2021 and January 2022 using a standardized questionnaire.
RESULTS
Seventy-two out of 79 public hospitals in Switzerland (91.1%) agreed to the survey. They employed 1,581 surgeons in 19 (26.4%) hospitals with < 100 beds, 39 (54.2%) hospitals with 100-300 beds, 7 (9.7%) with 300-600 beds, and 7 (9.7%) with > 600 beds. The median number of surgeons per hospital was 20.5 (IQR 13.0-29.0). Higher level of care (intermediate or intensive care unit) was significantly less available in small hospitals (< 100 beds). The median hour of designated emergency operating room capacity per day was 14 h (IQR 14-24) for all hospitals with < 600 beds and 24 h (IQR 14-24) for the largest hospitals (> 600 beds). With increasing hospital size, there was a significant increase in the number of surgical units where EGS and orthopedic trauma surgery were covered by two separate teams (21.1% vs. 43.6% vs. 85.7% vs. 100%, p = 0.035). The median number of surgeons on-call per hospital and per 24 h was 5.0 (IQR 3.3-6.0).
CONCLUSION
Lack of higher level of care in small hospitals, limited emergency OR capacity and short rotations of on-call teams are major drawbacks of many current EGS systems in Switzerland. Centralization of critically ill EGS patients and reorganization of surgical on-call systems to designated acute care surgery teams should be considered.
Running an emergency general surgery (EGS) service is challenging and requires significant personnel and institutional resources. The aim of this study was to achieve a nationwide overview of the individual EGS service organizations in public hospitals in Switzerland.
METHODS
All Swiss public hospitals with a surgical and emergency department were included and contacted by telephone. General surgeons were interviewed between December 2021 and January 2022 using a standardized questionnaire.
RESULTS
Seventy-two out of 79 public hospitals in Switzerland (91.1%) agreed to the survey. They employed 1,581 surgeons in 19 (26.4%) hospitals with < 100 beds, 39 (54.2%) hospitals with 100-300 beds, 7 (9.7%) with 300-600 beds, and 7 (9.7%) with > 600 beds. The median number of surgeons per hospital was 20.5 (IQR 13.0-29.0). Higher level of care (intermediate or intensive care unit) was significantly less available in small hospitals (< 100 beds). The median hour of designated emergency operating room capacity per day was 14 h (IQR 14-24) for all hospitals with < 600 beds and 24 h (IQR 14-24) for the largest hospitals (> 600 beds). With increasing hospital size, there was a significant increase in the number of surgical units where EGS and orthopedic trauma surgery were covered by two separate teams (21.1% vs. 43.6% vs. 85.7% vs. 100%, p = 0.035). The median number of surgeons on-call per hospital and per 24 h was 5.0 (IQR 3.3-6.0).
CONCLUSION
Lack of higher level of care in small hospitals, limited emergency OR capacity and short rotations of on-call teams are major drawbacks of many current EGS systems in Switzerland. Centralization of critically ill EGS patients and reorganization of surgical on-call systems to designated acute care surgery teams should be considered.
Date of Publication
2024-02
Publication Type
Article
Subject(s)
Keyword(s)
Acute care surgery Emergency general surgery Service models Surgeons on-call
Language(s)
en
Contributor(s)
Series
European journal of trauma and emergency surgery
Publisher
Springer-Medizin-Verlag
ISSN
1863-9933
Access(Rights)
open.access