Data from a recent study shows involving surgical residents in operations slightly reduces mortality rates and produces similar complications, compared to senior surgeons working alone, according to Reuters.
Researchers analyzed data from the American College of Surgeons database on surgeries between 2008 and 2013. Data across specialties included more than 1 million surgeries and more than 750,000 surgeries with a resident present, and almost all with the resident assisting with the procedure, according to the report.
After examining 30-day complications and adjusting for the complexity of the surgeries, researchers found patients were 7 percent less likely to die when operated on by a surgeon and a resident, than if they were operated on by a surgeon alone, according to the report.
"The results in this study are actually reassuring in that they demonstrate that surgical resident involvement in the operative procedure and the ensuing care of the patient actually results in a lower rate of death and a very minor, not statistically significant, increase in the rate of surgical complications," senior author Faek Jamali, MD, of the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Lebanon, said according to the report.
More articles on integration and physician issues:
The No. 1 thing patients want: 5 steps to improve the physician-patient relationship
CVS, family physicians kick off care coordination campaign
Methodist University Hospital receives largest donation ever of $40M