Title
The current State of the acute care surgery workforce: A boots on the ground perspective
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Surgery; Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Publication Date
2018-09-08
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Critical Care | Emergency Medicine | Health and Medical Administration | Health Services Research | Surgery
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Acute care surgery (ACS) was proposed to address a general surgery workforce crisis; however, the ACS workforce composition is unknown. A national survey was conducted to determine the differences in the emergency general surgery (EGS) workforce between ACS and non-ACS hospitals.
METHODS: The American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey of Hospitals database was queried to identify acute care general hospitals. A hybrid mail/electronic survey was sent to 2811 acute care hospitals that met the inclusion criteria of hospitals that care for adult patients ( > /=18 years old) with an emergency room (ER), > /= 1 operating room (OR), and 24-h ER access. Hospitals were queried on whether they utilized an ACS model. The workforce composition among ACS and non-ACS hospitals was evaluated using X(2) tests, t tests, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests.
RESULTS: Survey response was 60% (N=1690). ACS hospitals had a higher proportion of emergency surgeons who were female (20% vs. 14%, p < 0.0001), newly-trained (17% vs 10%, p < 0.0001), critical care trained (78% vs. 31%, p < 0.0001), and who had an additional degree (35% vs. 13%, p < 0.0001). More ACS hospitals had 24/7 in-house OR nursing staff (72% vs. 15%, p < 0.0001) and ancillary staff.
CONCLUSIONS: ACS and non-ACS hospitals differ in their surgical workforce. It is clear that ACS hospitals have more human capital, which suggests that ACS hospitals may require more dedicated resources compared to non-ACS hospitals.
DOI of Published Version
10.1016/j.amjsurg.2018.08.023
Source
Am J Surg. 2018 Sep 8. pii: S0002-9610(18)30132-6. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2018.08.023. [Epub ahead of print] Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
American journal of surgery
PubMed ID
30224074
Related Resources
Repository Citation
Daniel VT, Ayturk MD, Kiefe CI, Santry HP. (2018). The current State of the acute care surgery workforce: A boots on the ground perspective. Population and Quantitative Health Sciences Publications. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2018.08.023. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/qhs_pp/1218