Hysterectomy Volume Among Recent Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Graduates

Although guidelines recommend hysterectomy be performed vaginally whenever possible, recent trainees have decreased exposure to vaginal hysterectomy given the availability of laparoscopic hysterectomy, nonsurgical management, and falling volume nationwide. We sought to estimate hysterectomy volume in the 5 years after residency. Our secondary objective was to compare vaginal hysterectomy utilization between recent graduates and senior surgeons.

Retrospective, statewide data from 2005 to 2014 was obtained from the Massachusetts Center for Health Information Analysis. All hysterectomies performed in Massachusetts, regardless of payer type, were included. Surgeon identifiers were cross-referenced to another data set with provider demographics. Hysterectomies performed in the first 5 years after graduation were compared with a group 21 to 25 years after residency.

Data from inpatient and outpatient databases revealed 87,846 hysterectomies performed by 1967 physicians, including 3146 simple hysterectomies by 192 recent graduates. Recent graduates chose abdominal hysterectomy (44.2%) most commonly, followed by laparoscopic (29.4%), vaginal (16.1%), and laparoscopically assisted vaginal (10.4%). Recent graduates performed a median of 3 to 4 hysterectomies in each of the first 5 years with no increase over time (P = 1). The median number of vaginal or laparoscopic hysterectomies was 0 in these 5 years (interquartile ranges, 0-1 and 0-2, respectively). Members of the senior cohort performed a median of 8 to 9 hysterectomies annually, completing them vaginally more often (24.7% vs 16.1%, P < 0.01). When controlling for patient age and hysterectomy indication, this effect dissipated.

Recent graduates perform 3 to 4 (interquartile range, 1-7) hysterectomies annually, predominantly by laparotomy. Although senior surgeons perform vaginal hysterectomy more often, this is explained by patient characteristics.