Trauma and emergency surgery: an evolutionary direction for trauma surgeons.
BACKGROUND
The success of nonoperative management of injuries has diminished the operative experience of trauma surgeons. To enhance operative experience, our trauma surgeons began caring for all general surgery emergencies. Our objective was to characterize and compare the experience of our trauma surgeons with that of our general surgeons.


METHODS
We reviewed records to determine case diversity, complexity, time of operation, need for intensive care unit care, and payor mix for patients treated by the trauma and emergency surgery (TES) surgeons and elective practice general surgery (ELEC) surgeons over a 1-year period.


RESULTS
TES and ELEC surgeons performed 253 +/- 83 and 234 +/- 40 operations per surgeon, respectively (p = 0.59). TES surgeons admitted more patients and performed more after-hours operations than their ELEC colleagues. Both groups had a mix of cases that was diverse and complex.


CONCLUSIONS
Combining the care of patients with trauma and general surgery emergencies resulted in a breadth and scope of practice for TES surgeons that compared well with that of ELEC surgeons.
Scherer
Lynette A
LA
Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis Health Sysytem, Sacramento, 95817, USA. lynette.scherer@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
Battistella
Felix D
FD
D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004630:Emergencies; D013502:General Surgery / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D014193:Trauma Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000601:surgery*