The Journal of surgical research
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Night-float work schedules were designed to address growing concerns of the affect of fatigue on resident psychomotor and cognitive skills after traditional 24-h call work schedules. Whether this transition has achieved these results is debatable. This study was designed to compare the psychomotor performance of general surgery residents on both work schedule types. We hypothesized that when measured with novel laparoscopic simulator tasks, residents on a 24-h call schedule would exhibit worse psychomotor performance compared with those on a night-float work schedule. ⋯ In this study of general surgery residents, a statistically significant difference in psychomotor performance between residents working 24-h call shift versus a 12-h night-float shift could not be found. Psychomotor performance does not appear to suffer after a work shift. Additionally, post-shift subjective evaluations of fatigue are comparable regardless of shift type.
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The Surgical Recovery Score (SRS) is a validated, comprehensive recovery assessment tool used to measure functional recovery after major surgery. To further evaluate its clinical applicability, this study investigated whether the SRS correlates with clinical outcomes and the occurrence of complications after elective colectomy. ⋯ In addition to measuring functional recovery, the SRS closely correlates with the development of complications after elective colectomy and offers a reliable outcome measure to assess overall postoperative recovery.
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We treat patients after appendectomy for perforated appendicitis with patient controlled analgesia (PCA) using a background continuous dose. We usually place urinary catheters in these patients because of concerns of urinary retention. The objective of the present study was to determine the rate of urinary retention in this patient population when a catheter was not used or was removed before the continuous PCA infusion was discontinued. ⋯ Patients with a perforated appendicitis who receive a continuous PCA have a low rate of urinary retention whether or not a catheter has been placed intraoperatively.
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Variability exits in the ability to predict overall recovery after trauma and inpatient rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to identify factors predicting functional improvement in trauma patients undergoing inpatient rehabilitation. ⋯ In our study, age as an independent factor was not predictive of functional outcome after injury. The extent of head injury continues to negatively affect the overall functional improvement based on FIM.
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Pediatric surgery fellowship is considered one of the most competitive subspecialties in medicine. With fierce competition increasing the stakes, publications and first authorship are paramount to the success rate of matching. We analyzed Electronic Residency Application Service applications for verification of authorship to determine rate of misrepresentation. ⋯ The pediatric surgical pool has a very low incidence of suspicious citations; however, authorship claims should be verified.