Authors: Seow, Ying-ying¹; Riad, Hany²; Dyer, Philip¹

Source: Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England, Volume 88, Number 7, November 2006 , pp. 667-671(5)

Publisher: The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) is calling for reduction in the working hours of doctors. Renal transplantation is well-recognised as an out-of-hours specialty. Our study looks at whether our renal transplant centre's attempt to reduce cold ischaemic time (CIT) has impacted on the pattern of operating times since this may have implications on the surgeons' working hours.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied 883 adult cadaver kidney transplants performed between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 2002. CIT and time of surgery was obtained from a local audit database (<www.nwkta.org>) and that held by UK Transplant. Time of surgery was divided into 07:30-17:59 (day),18:00-23:59 (evening) and 00:00-07:29 (night).

RESULTS: CIT has decreased since 1992, with a significant reduction after 1998 (P = 0.0001). There was, however, no difference in the percentage of operations performed during the three time periods before and after 1998. Between 1999-2002, 51.4% of transplants took place out of hours (i.e. 18:00-07:29).

CONCLUSIONS: Reduction in CIT does not appear to have impacted on our operating times. The large amount of out-of-hours work is, however, not compliant with EWTD requirements.

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Keywords: COLD ISCHAEMIC TIME; EUROPEAN WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE; OPERATING TIMES; RENAL TRANSPLANTATION

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1308/003588406X149291

Affiliations: 1: Transplantation Laboratory, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK 2: Renal Transplant Department, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK

Publication date: 2006-11-01

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• The Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England is the official journal of the College and is published eight times a year in January, March, April, May, July, September, October and November. The main aim of the journal is to publish high quality, peer-reviewed papers that relate to all branches of surgery.
  
  The Annals also includes letters and comments, a regular technical section, NICE news, controversial topics, CORESS feedback, book reviews and the best trainee presentations from England and Wales. The editorial board is composed of members of the College Council and experts from across the surgical specialties.
  
  Archive issues of the Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England are available via the PubMed Central database
  
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