What is the ideal orthopaedic call plan for a level one trauma center?

Level I trauma centers employ various orthopaedic call strategies based on resources and surgeon subspeciality availability.

We hypothesize when surgeons fellowship trained in trauma are solely on call that patient outcomes will be improved compared to a combined plan.

Retrospective cohort study from two 24-month time periods at an academic level one trauma center. The first cohort consisted of only trauma surgeons taking call. The second cohort consisted of a combination of trauma and other subspecialities taking call. The primary outcome analyzed was time from admission to operating room for hip, femoral shaft, distal femur, tibia shaft, pelvic ring and acetabulum fractures. Secondary outcomes analyzed included length of stay, 90 day incidence of reoperation, mortality, VTE and readmission.

Eight hundred and fifty seven patients in the trauma cohort and 992 patients in the combined cohort met the inclusion criteria. The time from admission to index surgical procedure was significantly shorter in the trauma cohort (1.7 vs 2.4). Length of stay (8.95 vs 11 days) and 90 day mortality (1.8% vs 3.8%) was improved in the trauma cohort. There was no difference in 90 day rate of VTE, readmission or reoperation. Length of stay and time to OR in pelvic ring injuries and acetabulum fractures were doubled compared to the hybrid group.

Our findings suggest that when trauma fellowship trained surgeons are the only ones taking call patients have a shorter time from admission to index surgical procedure, length of stay and lower mortality rate.