The British journal of surgery
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Non-technical skills of surgical trainees and experienced surgeons.
In addition to technical expertise, surgical competence requires effective non-technical skills to ensure patient safety and maintenance of standards. Recently the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons implemented a new Surgical Education and Training (SET) curriculum that incorporated non-technical skills considered essential for a competent surgeon. This study sought to compare the non-technical skills of experienced surgeons who completed their training before the introduction of SET with the non-technical skills of more recent trainees. ⋯ The drop in NOTSS score was unexpected and highlights that even experienced surgeons are not immune to deficiencies in non-technical skills. Consideration should be given to continuing professional development programmes focusing on non-technical skills, regardless of the level of professional experience.
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Multicenter Study
Timing of completion lymphadenectomy after positive sentinel node biopsy in patients with melanoma.
Nodal staging with sentinel node biopsy (SNB) and completion lymph node dissection (CLND) provides prognostic information to patients with melanoma and their physicians. It is not known whether the timing of CLND is associated with survival outcome and/or CLND tumour load. This study investigated whether CLND timing is associated with CLND tumour load, disease-free survival (DFS) and/or melanoma-specific survival (MSS). ⋯ The time interval between diagnosis of melanoma and CLND did not influence CLND tumour load, DFS or MSS.
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Quality assurance is acknowledged as a crucial factor in the assessment of oncological surgical care. The aim of this study was to develop a composite measure of multiple outcome parameters defined as 'textbook outcome', to assess quality of care for patients undergoing oesophagogastric cancer surgery. ⋯ Most patients did not achieve a textbook outcome and there was wide variation between hospitals.
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Observational Study
Cross-sectional observational study of the availability of evidence supporting novel implantable devices used in gastrointestinal surgery.
Evidence supporting the implementation of novel surgical devices is unstandardized, despite recommendations for assessing novel innovations. This study aimed to determine the proportion of novel implantable devices used in gastrointestinal surgery that are supported by evidence from RCTs. ⋯ Only one in ten novel implantable devices available for use in gastrointestinal surgical practice is supported by high-quality RCT evidence.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Randomized clinical trial of comprehensive geriatric assessment and optimization in vascular surgery.
Increasing numbers of older patients are undergoing vascular surgery. Inadequate preoperative assessment and optimization may contribute to increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. ⋯ In this study of patients aged 65 years or older undergoing vascular surgery, preoperative comprehensive geriatric assessment was associated with a shorter length of hospital stay. Patients undergoing assessment and optimization had a lower incidence of complications and were less likely to be discharged to a higher level of dependency. Registration number: ISRCTN23142588 (http://www.controlled-trials.com).