Addition of a general surgeon without addition of appropriate support is inadequate to improve outcomes of trauma patients in a rural setting: a cohort study of 1962 consecutive patients

• Published in: European journal of trauma and emergency surgery (Munich : 2007) Vol. 43; no. 6; pp. 835 - 839
• Main Author: Basak, F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.12.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Cohort analysis; Critical Care Medicine; Emergency Medicine; Intensive; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Article; Sports Medicine; Surgeons; Surgery; Surgical Orthopedics; Trauma; Trauma centers; Traumatic Surgery; Rural; Turkey; Trauma; Solo surgeon
• ISSN: 1863-9933; 1863-9941
• DOI: 10.1007/s00068-016-0736-8

Purpose Trauma care poses many challenges in small hospitals in rural settings. This report was designed to assess the role of a rural general surgeon with trauma patients. Methods A cohort study was designed using a retrospective analysis of a cohort at Bozkır Community Hospital that included trauma patients admitted to the emergency department between June 2007 and May 2009. The patients of group 1 were those treated during the first year of the study period, when the hospital staff was only non-specialist physicians. In the second year, a general surgeon was added to the staff, and the patients from this period constituted group 2. Results The top three leading causes of injuries were falls (46.5 %), piercing/cutting injuries (38.2 %), and assault (6.5 %). The frequency of trauma due to falls was higher in group 1, and assault and piercing/cutting injuries were higher in group 2 ( p  < 0.001 for each). The percentage of discharged and transferred patients was not significantly different between groups ( p  = 0.065 and p  = 0.082, respectively). Similar mortality rates were also detected (group 1: 0.5 %, group 2: 0.3 %, p  = 0.479). Conclusions The presence of a solo general surgeon was not found to be adequate for improving the outcome for trauma patients in a rural hospital.