The evolution of a vascular surgeon at a district general hospital: is sub-specialisation inevitable?
We report a 15-year retrospective audit to evaluate the change in arterial surgical commitment on general surgical case mix of a single surgeon with a vascular interest at a district general hospital. There was a 409% increase in the number of arterial procedures performed combined with a fall of 52% in the total number of operations over the study period. We conclude that, with such a rapidly growing arterial caseload, sub-specialisation to vascular surgery is inevitable.
Department of General Surgery, Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant, UK.
C D
CD
Sutton
J P
JP
Gilmour
D P
DP
Berry
M H
MH
Lewis
D001158:Arteries / Q000601:surgery; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D006767:Hospitals, District / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013038:Specialization / Q000639:trends*; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D014852:Wales; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data