Does a surgeon's experience affect emergency patient outcomes?
Complications but not mortality are linked with a surgeon's seniority, US study shows
Emergency surgery patients cared for by early-career 'acute-care' surgeons have similar mortality rates as patients treated by more senior surgeons, however they are more likely to need to go back to theatre, a US study suggests.
Researchers from Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut studied the association of surgeon experience with emergency surgery outcomes at five US trauma centres.
Overall, 56 acute-care surgeons operated on 772 patients, with an average age of 50 (61% men) who required emergency general surgery or trauma