Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 10, 2026
08:36
Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments
Published on: August 8, 2019
We still need to operate at night!
Omar Faiz1, Saswata Banerjee, Paris Tekkis
1Department of General Surgery, Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK. omarfaiz@aol.com.
World Journal of Emergency Surgery : WJES
|November 2, 2007
Summary
Emergency general surgery workload analysis shows a consistent need for complex procedures after midnight. Daytime and evening operating absorbed increased case volumes, while night-time procedures remained stable but decreased proportionally.
Area of Science:
- Surgical workload analysis
- Healthcare management
- Emergency medicine
Background:
- Previous recommendations (National Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative deaths) advised reducing non-essential night-time operating in NHS hospitals.
- This study retrospectively analyzed emergency general surgical operative workload at a London Teaching hospital.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze trends in emergency general surgical operative workload.
- To assess the distribution of procedures across daytime, evening, and night-time slots.
- To evaluate the impact of increasing workload on operating schedules.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 5,316 emergency general and vascular operations from 1997-2004.
- Operations categorized by time: daytime (08:01-18:00), evening (18:01-00:00), and night-time (00:01-08:00).
- Bivariate correlation used to analyze trends in workload and timing.
Main Results:
- Night-time operations (9.8%) predominantly involved complex procedures like laparotomies and vascular surgery.
- The annual volume of emergency cases increased significantly, absorbed by enhanced daytime and evening operating.
- No significant change in absolute night-time cases, but their proportion of the total workload decreased.
Conclusions:
- A consistent, albeit small, volume of complex emergency surgeries is required after midnight.
- Emergency general surgical services must continue to accommodate these critical night-time procedures.
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