Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40494606›Full record

Observational studyCanadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie

Rural surgical and obstetric facility-level outcomes for index procedures: a retrospective cohort study (2016-2021).

Jude Kornelsen, Gal Av-Gay, Anshu Parajulee, Nancy Humber, Sean Ebert, Tom Skinner, Kathrin Stoll

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Jude KornelsenFrom the Centre for Rural Health Research, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Kornelsen, Av-Gay, Parajulee, Stoll) and the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Humber, Ebert, Skinner). jude.kornelsen@familymed.ubc.ca.
Gal Av-GayFrom the Centre for Rural Health Research, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Kornelsen, Av-Gay, Parajulee, Stoll) and the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Humber, Ebert, Skinner).
Anshu ParajuleeFrom the Centre for Rural Health Research, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Kornelsen, Av-Gay, Parajulee, Stoll) and the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Humber, Ebert, Skinner).
Nancy HumberFrom the Centre for Rural Health Research, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Kornelsen, Av-Gay, Parajulee, Stoll) and the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Humber, Ebert, Skinner).
Sean EbertFrom the Centre for Rural Health Research, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Kornelsen, Av-Gay, Parajulee, Stoll) and the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Humber, Ebert, Skinner).
Tom SkinnerFrom the Centre for Rural Health Research, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Kornelsen, Av-Gay, Parajulee, Stoll) and the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Humber, Ebert, Skinner).
Kathrin StollFrom the Centre for Rural Health Research, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Kornelsen, Av-Gay, Parajulee, Stoll) and the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Humber, Ebert, Skinner).

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMany rural communities have lost local access to procedural care, and although rural surgical services have endured in some regions, questions regarding quality and safety of care have persisted. Using retrospective observational data, we sought to compare adverse outcomes of the most common surgical procedures performed at rural facilities in British Columbia and outcomes by provider specialty. Our objective was to show whether the efficacy of surgical care at rural facilities is comparable to that of larger referral facilities and whether family physicians with enhanced surgical skills (FPESS) have outcomes comparable to those of specialists at referral facilities for low-morbidity patients.

methodsWe included patients who had a colonoscopy, hernia repair, appendectomy, or cesarean delivery at 1 of 7 rural hospitals in BC that participated in the Rural Surgical and Obstetrics Networks of BC and corresponding referral facilities between 2016 and 2021. To control for differences in the acuity of patients between facility types, we risk stratified data by patient comorbidity level, in addition to adjusting for other demographic differences using multivariable Firth logistic regression analysis. We also compared the outcomes of FPESS with those of regional specialists for low-acuity patients in a similar manner. We calculated adjusted odds ratios (ORs), used tests of noninferiority to obtain

resultsMost surgical procedures at rural hospitals were performed by FPESS (

conclusionOur findings provide evidence in favour of the efficacy of rural procedural care at BC facilities, and although these results are not inherently generalizable to other populations, we believe they illustrate the potential for high-quality rural care for low-acuity procedures in similar settings. These findings are an important step toward documenting rural-specific outcomes and creating attendant benchmarks for rural practice.

Indexed as

Hospitals, RuralRural Health ServicesSurgical Procedures, OperativeAdultAppendectomyBritish ColumbiaCesarean SectionClinical CompetenceFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPregnancyRetrospective Studies

Identifiers

PMID40494606
PMCPMC12169910

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.