An Analysis of 1000 Patients With the “Big 5” Orthopaedic Surgery Procedures and the Impact of Residents on Outcome

BACKGROUND

The study is intended to show that the operative quality of a resident in orthopedic trauma surgery is comparable to that of a senior physician in the most common orthopaedic trauma surgeries (Plate osteosynthesis in ankle fractures and distal radius fractures, ESIN in pediatric forearm fractures, implantation of a proximal femoral nail in pertrochanteric femur fractures and hemiarthroplasty in femoral neck fractures) with appropriate supervision by a senior physician. With only minimal deviations in the operating time, which is becoming increasingly relevant in everyday clinical practice, surgical training of residents could be supported.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

200 patients of the above-mentioned fracture patterns each, who were treated surgically between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2020, were detected and categorized. In particular, a qualitative characteristic was determined for each fracture on the basis of the standard pre and postoperative X-rays taken during surgery and statistically evaluated with the surgery time, the fracture classification and the training status of the anonymized surgeon. Anonymized x-rays were evaluated by 2 senior physicians and 2 residents.

RESULTS

Operations were performed by residents in 33.5 % of the cases (ankle fractures 42.0%; distal radius fractures 30.5%; pediatric forearm fractures 30.5%; pertrochanteric femur fractures 50.5%; femoral neck fractures 14.0%). Surgical complication rate was 4.8% in the resident group and 9.0% in the attending surgeon group. Revision surgeries were performed in 2.1% of resident cases, and in 4.1% of attending surgeon cases.

In the resident group, time of surgery was 7.4 min longer for ankle fractures, 4.4 min for distal radius fractures, 2.8 min for forearm fractures, 2.3 min longer in proximal femur fractures 8.2 min longer for femoral neck fractures. No statistically significant difference in radiological outcome was observed in any of the groups after evaluation of the x-rays.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that only slightly more than one third of all mentioned operations are performed by residents, although there is no statistical difference in quality. The operating time is extended on average by only 5 minutes. The surgical complication rate as well as the revision rate is higher in the group of senior physicians, whereby the more complicated fractures were treated by them. Resident involvement in trauma surgery is therefore not associated with increased morbidity or mortality of patients.