American journal of surgery
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We asked whether surgical process and outcome differ for physicians in postgraduate training supervised by attending surgeons compared with attending surgeons alone. All appendectomies performed during a 2 year period in a 320 bed voluntary hospital where either the admitting diagnosis or the preoperative diagnosis suggested acute appendicitis were included in the study. Data were abstracted from medical records and pathology reports. ⋯ The average length of stay was 8.8 days for attending surgeons' cases and 7.1 days for residents' cases (t = 1.09, p = 0.29). The postoperative complication rates were 24 percent for attendings' cases and 12 percent for residents' cases (chi-square = 2.31, p = 0.16). We conclude that there is no appreciable difference in either the process or the outcome of care for patients undergoing appendectomy whether the operation is performed by an attending physician or a resident physician supervised by an attending physician.