A new study, published in BMJ Open, sought to examine the relationship between hospital or surgeon volume and mortality of patients undergoing Emergency abdominal surgery (EAS) – high-risk intra-abdominal surgical procedures undertaken for acute gastrointestinal pathology – at the national level in Ireland. The study used full administrative inpatient dataset (National Quality Assurance Improvement System) from 24 publicly funded hospitals in Ireland providing EAS services during the period 2014–2018. The study found patients undergoing EAS managed by high volume surgeons have better survival outcomes. These findings contribute to the ongoing discussion regarding configuration of emergency surgery services and emphasise the need for effective clinical governance regarding observed variation in outcomes within and between institutions.
Read more:
- Volume and in-hospital mortality after emergency abdominal surgery: a national population-based study. BMJ Open, Vol 9 Issue 11. November 2019
More on this topic:
Irish Times: Better outcomes when emergency surgery performed by busier surgeons, study finds – https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/better-outcomes-when-emergency-surgery-performed-by-busier-surgeons-study-finds-1.4085907
RTE: ‘Huge variation’ in abdominal surgery outcomes – study – https://www.rte.ie/news/health/2019/1118/1092563-abdominal-surgery-study/