Introduction
With the increasing uptake of laparoscopic hernia repairs, there could be concern that the availability of this basic open training procedure will be less for the current cohort of trainees as consultants and experienced registrars are doing more hernia repairs laparoscopically. This study aimed to determine whether there was a reduction in trainee exposure to hernia repairs over a ten year period at a busy district general hospital.
Methods
A retrospective study was performed of all patients undergoing inpatient hernia repair by a laparoscopic or open approach in both 1996 and 2006. Data analysed included: patient demographics, grade of supervising surgeon and duration of inpatient stay.
Results
The mean ages of patients undergoing hernia repairs were 65.5 +/- 1.7 (mean +/- SE) in 1996 and 60.0 +/- 2.0 in 2006. A total of 172 inpatient hernia repairs were performed in 1996 (26 laparoscopic) compared to a 100 inpatient hernia repairs in 2006 (29 laparoscopic). There was no significant difference in in-patient admission between the 1996 and 2006 (3.6 +/- 0.3 days (mean+/-SE) vs 3.4 +/- 0.4 days; n.s Mann Whitney U-test). The ratio of hernia repairs performed by consultants increased from 23% to 40% from1996 to 2006 in line with the increasing ratio of laparoscopic repairs (p
Session: Poster
Program Number: P353
