Doty Brit, Zuckerman Randall, Finlayson Samuel, Jenkins Paul, Rieb Nathaniel, Heneghan Steven
Mithoefer Center for Rural Surgery, Bassett Healthcare, One Atwell Road, Cooperstown, New York 13326, USA.
Surgery. 2008 May;143(5):599-606. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2007.11.022. Epub 2008 Mar 24.
Many rural residents have limited access to surgical care. Rural hospitals frequently struggle to provide surgical services due to workforce shortages and financial constraints. The purpose of this study is to describe rural hospital administrators' perceptions regarding the state of their general surgery programs and the impact that providing surgical services has on their hospitals' financial viability.
A 12-item survey was mailed to a random sample of national rural hospital administrators (n=233). One hundred and eleven surveys were completed, yielding a response rate of 48%. In addition to overall descriptive analyses, comparisons were made between hospitals located in large versus small rural communities.
Eighty-three percent of rural hospital administrators perceived their surgical program to be very important to the financial viability of their hospital and stated that they would reduce services if the hospital were to lose its surgery program. Thirty-four percent of hospitals have a surgeon leaving within the next 2 years and more than one-third of hospital administrators are currently searching for a surgeon.
Surgical care is a vital component of the health care services delivered by rural hospitals. Surveyed administrators' view the ability to provide surgical services as crucial to the financial viability of their rural hospitals. A shortage of general surgeons is a potential major threat to these rural hospitals.
许多农村居民获得外科护理的机会有限。由于劳动力短缺和资金限制，农村医院在提供外科服务方面经常面临困难。本研究的目的是描述农村医院管理人员对其普通外科项目状况的看法，以及提供外科服务对其医院财务可行性的影响。
向全国农村医院管理人员的随机样本（n = 233）邮寄了一份包含12个项目的调查问卷。共完成了111份调查问卷，回复率为48%。除了总体描述性分析外，还对位于大型和小型农村社区的医院进行了比较。
83%的农村医院管理人员认为其外科项目对医院的财务可行性非常重要，并表示如果医院失去其外科项目，他们将减少服务。34%的医院在未来两年内将有一名外科医生离职，超过三分之一的医院管理人员目前正在寻找外科医生。
外科护理是农村医院提供的医疗服务的重要组成部分。接受调查的管理人员认为提供外科服务的能力对其农村医院的财务可行性至关重要。普通外科医生短缺是这些农村医院面临的一个潜在重大威胁。
