Five months of surgery in the multinational field hospital in Afghanistan with an emphasis on oral and maxillofacial injuries.
The aim of this review was to assess the workload of theatres in the role 3 Multinational Field Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan and to identify what period of day most emergency admissions arrived. During the period 05 August 2006 to 21 December 2006, 288 operations were performed on 259 patients and comprised 393 individually quantifiable procedures. 98% of these operations were to treat acute injuries. Oral and Maxillofacial surgeons were involved in 24% of operations. 63% of procedures done at these operations involved upper or lower limbs, 19% the head and neck and 18% involved the torso. An analysis of emergency admissions in November 2006 showed that most occurred between 18.00 and midnight. Although theatre timetabling made provision for this, whenever possible, elective surgery was scheduled for the following morning when emergency injury admissions were at their lowest.
Breeze
J
J
Academic Department of Military Surgery and Trauma, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham Research Park, Vincent Drive, Birmingham, England. johnobreeze@doctors.org.uk
Monaghan
A M
AM
Williams
M D
MD
Clark
R N W
RN
Gibbons
A J
AJ
D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D002170:Canada; D003646:Debridement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006772:Hospitals, Military / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008446:Maxillofacial Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data