title: [A survey from the French Urology Association about sick leave prescriptions by 145 surgeons].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe and evaluate prescriptions of sick leave by urology surgeons for different kinds of interventions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between January and April 2006, a web-based survey was completed by urology surgeons on a voluntary basis. The analyzed data pertained to personal characteristics of the surgeons, mean duration of sick leave for 15 interventions and the type of job of the patient (strenuous or not). Analyses were performed with software SAS™ version 9.2. Descriptive analyses were performed and Kruskal-Wallis test was used to search for statistically significant differences between variables (p<0,05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and forty-eight surgeons were involved and 145 answers could be analyzed. Mean age of the surgeons was 46,3±9,4years. Urology surgeons were in the public sector (n=73/140; 52%), in private practice (n=43/140; 31%) or both (n=24/140; 17%). Kruskal-Wallis test showed that all patients who had a job considered as strenuous had significantly longer sick leave prescriptions. Younger surgeons (under 40) used to prescribe shorter sick leaves than their older counterparts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sick leave prescriptions of the urology surgeons were globally homogeneous in this survey. Only a few interventions were the occasion of discordant prescriptions depending upon the age or practice (public/private) of the surgeons. Several hypotheses could be further explored as regard the source of variation in sick leave prescriptions. These results are usable for those stakeholders who are interested in continuous medical education and evaluation.
authors.affiliation: UMRESTTE, Unité mixte INRETS/UCBL/InVS, France.
authors.forename: J-B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Fassier
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Charbotel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fort
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Rebillard
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Moreau
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borgogno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Devonec
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paparel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ruffion
mesh_terms: D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014572:Urology