Elective surgery waiting times 2014-15

Elective surgery waiting times 2014-15

Public Health Statistics Surgery

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a new report on elective surgery waiting times. In 2014-15: about 700,000 patients were admitted to Australian public hospitals from elective surgery waiting lists; 50% of patients were admitted for their surgery within 35 days; fewer than 2% of patients waited more than a year for their surgery.

 Elective surgery waiting times 2014-15: Australian hospital statistics   

AIHW catalogue number HSE 166

Download the full reportfor free online. 

Bullying and harassment amongst surgeons

Bullying and harassment amongst surgeons

Bullying Doctors Surgery

Reported widely in the media this week has been the release of the Draft report to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons on discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment, which presents the findings from five major pieces of work commissioned by the Expert Advisory Group in 2015, all of which are published on the College website. The research found that across all surgical specialties senior surgeons and surgical consultants were the primary source of these problems:

• 54% of trainees and 45% of Fellows less than 10 years post-fellowship report being subjected to bullying
• 71% of hospitals reported discrimination, bullying or sexual harassment in their hospital in the last five years, with bullying the most frequently reported issue
• 39% of Fellows, trainees and international medical graduates report bullying, 18% report discrimination, 19% report workplace harassment and 7% sexual harassment 

One opinion piece subsequently published in The Conversation is by Kimberley Ivory from the University of Sydney: Surgeons take a scalpel to their own toxic culture.  It provides some revealing insights and context for the discussion.

Music and communication in the operating theatre

Music and communication in the operating theatre

Communication Surgery

A UK study has looked at the possible disruptive effect of playing music in the operating theatre. According to sources cited here, background music is quite common, being played during 53-72% of surgical operations. Video recordings over six months examined 20 operations in two different theatres and the authors reported that “repeated requests were five times more likely to occur in cases that played music than those that did not. A repeated request can add 4-68 seconds each to operation time and increased tensions due to frustration at ineffective communication.”  They concluded that music played in operating theatres is underrecognised as a potential safety hazard. 

Music and communication in the operating theatre.  Weldon S-M, Korkiakangas T, Bezemer J, Kneebone R. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2015. [epub]. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jan.12744

Head and Neck Cancer free virtual issues

Head and Neck Cancer free virtual issues

Cancer Surgery

April is head and neck cancer awareness month and according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, more than 55,000 Americans will develop cancer of the head and neck this year; resulting in nearly 13,000 deaths. 
Wiley has selected a number of relevant  articles from their Oncology and Otolaryngology journal titles and created 2 free virtual issues.
 Wiley Oncology Head and Neck Cancer virtual issue.

Wiley Otolaryngology Head and Neck Cancer virtual issue.

Elective surgery waiting times 2012-13

Elective surgery waiting times 2012-13

Hospitals Surgery Surgical procedures

In 2012-13 about 673,000 patients were admitted to Australian public hospitals from elective surgery Australian Hospital Statistics 2012-13: elective surgery waiting times also gives a breakdown of types of surgery, with one in four patients undergoing general surgery and one in seven orthopaedic surgery. Compared to the previous year, admissions for elective surgery increased by 1.8% across Australia.

National Definitions for Elective Surgery Urgency Categories

National Definitions for Elective Surgery Urgency Categories

Health policy Surgery Surgical procedures

A new report, National definitions for elective surgery urgency categories: proposal for the Standing Council on Health  was released today, 31st July, 2013, by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. In 2012, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons worked together to develop national definitions for elective surgery urgency categories, at the request of the Standing Council on Health. The development of the national definitions resulted in a package of six integrated components proposed for adoption. This report presents the proposed definitions and components.