Evolution of a Dedicated Emergency Surgery and Trauma (ESAT) unit over 3 years: sustained improved outcomes

The traditional 24-h call model faces pressure from competing needs between emergency and elective services. Recognizing this, a dedicated ESAT service was developed in Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Singapore, with improved clinical outcomes. It was initially led by a single consultant (SC) in 2014, and subsequently evolved to a weekly consultant rotation (WC) roster in 2017 to achieve sustainability.

Each consultant led the ESAT WC service for a week and maintained ownership of their patients thereafter. All emergency surgical admissions between two distinct 6-month periods were reviewed, from May to October 2014 (pre-ESAT) and January to June 2017 (ESAT WC). Patient demographics, diagnoses, and operations were compared. Efficiency and clinical outcomes were evaluated.

There were 1248 and 1284 patients in the pre-ESAT and ESAT WC group, respectively. Majority were males and in their 50s. Acute appendicitis, gallstone conditions, and soft-tissue infections made up half of the admissions. Trauma workload was comparable (7.8% pre-ESAT vs 9.5% ESAT WC). Cholecystectomies doubled during the ESAT period, 14.2% vs 7.2%, (p = 0.01). More consultants were involved in major cases (95.9% vs 86%), (p = 0.01) and more operations were performed during the day (52.1% vs 47.9%), (p = 0.01). Average time to OT was shorter and there were less major surgical complications (p = 0.02). Mortality (p = 0.08) and length of stay were reduced (4 vs 4.5 days), (p = 0.01).

The ESAT WC service has sustained improved outcomes in our institution.