General and visceral surgery practice in German hospitals: a real-time work analysis on surgeons’ work flow

Abstract

For the first time, surgeons' workflow in German hospitals was studied in real time. The study results substantiate physicians' statements about their own working conditions, especially with concerns to large amount of time spent on administration tasks. The findings of this study form a basis upon which further analysis can be built and recommendations for improvements in physicians' workflows at German hospitals can be made.

Improving quality of medical treatment and care: are surgeons’ working conditions and job satisfaction associated to patient satisfaction?

“…Previous studies carried out in German hospitals analyzed doctors' working conditions and job satisfaction in various hospitals [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. A number of studies focused on German emergency departments using surveys on the quality of medical treatment to evaluate hospital performance and working environments [38][39][40].…”

Contribution of final-year medical students to operation room performance—economical and educational implications

“…Analysis of real-time work of German surgeons indicated that their working day is more dominated by documentation duties and administrative workload than by being in the operation theatre or spending time with patient care [16,17]. As our data shows, participation rate of surgical residents remained constant within the observation period, whereas cumulative working time as well as participation rates of medical students in the operating room decreased, and the rate of operations performed without any second assistant increased over the years.…”

“…Whereas in the late 1990s, the relationship between job candidate and place of employment was 12.3:1 in German academic hospitals; nowadays, the shortage of surgical residents has become evident [12,18]. Poor quality of life [19,20], as well as long education times and a very high amount of paperwork compared to the limited operative workload, have been mentioned as the underlying causes [16,21,22]. Hence, 50% of all medical students who were initially interested in surgery change their opinion and attitude during their medical studies [23].…”

“…It seems that medical students minimize the costs of surgical procedures. Staff shortage and a high workload of paperwork [16] in academic hospitals may lead to an increased utilization of medical students in the operation room as a replacement of interns or residents.…”

Wie viel Betriebswirtschaft braucht der Chirurg?

“…Das Patientenaufkommen steigt stetig und das Arbeitsaufkommen von Chirurgen wird Schätzungen zufolge bis zum Jahr 2020 (Basisjahr 2000) um knapp 40% über dem heutigen liegen [11,12]. Behandlungs-und Verwaltungsabläufe in der Chirurgie sind komplex.…”