Integration of advanced practitioners (APs) into academic medical centers can improve processes of care and decrease physician workload but may adversely impact general surgery residency training. The aim of the present study was to characterize general surgery resident perceptions of APs and their impact on resident training. We conducted an institutional review board–approved survey covering five topic areas: knowledge of AP training, interaction with APs, scope-of-practice of APs, role of APs in the health-care team, and impact of APs on physician training. The survey was administered to general surgery residents at six large academic medical centers. One hundred eighteen general surgery residents completed the survey. The majority (43.6%) of respondents were junior residents. All respondents had interactions with APs with 90.7 per cent having worked directly with an AP in the last month. Residents reported minimal formal educational involvement by APs with 6.8 per cent reporting participation in didactics and 22.2 per cent teaching operative techniques. Almost half (44.1%) of the respondents reported that APs played an important role in their education, and 42.4 per cent of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that the role of the AP is well defined in their hospital. Today's general surgery residents work closely with APs who seem to positively impact resident education. Although residents perceive significant benefit with integration of APs, well-defined roles are lacking.

Inclan, Paul M.; Patel, Nimesh MD; Hulme, Michael PhD; Getz, Veronica A. MBA; Carter, Jeff E. MD Author Information

Though multiple studies have demonstrated superior outcomes amongst adult burn patients at verified burn centers (VBCs) relative to nondedicated burn centers (NBCs), roughly half of such patients meeting American Burn Association (ABA) referral guidelines are not sent to these centers. We sought examine referral patterns amongst pediatric burn patients. Retrospective review of a statewide patient database identified pediatric burn patients from 2000 to 2007 using International Classification of Disease (ICD-9) discharge codes. These injuries were crossreferenced with ABA referral criteria to determine compliance with the ABA guidelines. 1831 children sustained burns requiring hospitalization during the study period, of which 1274 (70%) met ABA referral criteria. Of 557 treated at NBCs, 306 (55%) met criteria for transfer. Neither age, gender, nor payer status demonstrated significant association with treatment center. VBCs treated more severely injured patients, but there was no difference in survival or rate of discharge home from NBCs versus VBCs. Studies to evaluate differences in functional outcomes between pediatric burn patients treated at VBCs versus NBCs would be beneficial to ensure optimization of outcomes in this population.

BACKGROUND: Numerous organizations have identified access to emergency surgical care as a crisis. One barrier is the financial disincentive associated with caring for this patient population. We sought to identify contributing factors by analyzing endemic data during the development of an acute care surgery (ACS) service at an academic health care system. METHODS: Financial data (receipts, payer mix, and dollar/relative value unit [RVU]) and productivity measures (OR procedures and RVUs) were obtained for a surgical division for 6-month periods before and after transition to an ACS model. Using national data, a sensitivity analysis was performed to identify salary targets required for an ACS surgeon to have equitable career reimbursement using standard financial modeling (net present value) with comparable surgical specialists. RESULTS: Post-ACS, operative volume increased 25%, work RVUs increased 21%, but net receipts increased only 11%. Dollar/RVU decreased primarily due to a higher proportion of uncompensated care. As a result, the dollar/RVU for ACS patients was 28% lower in comparison to non-ACS specialties. Increasing ACS salaries proportionate to the observed dollar/RVU discount realigned ACS economic value with other specialties in aggregate. CONCLUSION: A national shortage of ACS surgeons exists due to in part financial misalignment. We demonstrated that despite an increase in clinical activity, transition to an ACS model resulted in a relative reduction in payment. A rational systems-based approach to ACS development that objectively targets the RVU reimbursement disparity would reduce economic disincentives related to careers in ACS and potentially address the emergency surgical care crisis.