This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Surgery, Other  • Anesthesia  • Alert me on articles by topic

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

I read with great interest the report by Babineau et al¹ on the cost of surgical residents. I agree with the authors that surgical residents by definition should take longer than fully trained surgeons to complete a surgical procedure. On the other hand, I must disagree with their conclusion that the costs to the hospital or anesthesiology department are insignificant.

I agree with the authors’ argument that staffing costs are fixed during regular hours and that a decrease in a small time period in one operating room will not decrease staffing costs, but I must point out that this is a decrease in time during regular hours. I must disagree with the authors’ conclusion that this fixed-cost argument leads to no increased staffing costs to the hospital or anesthesiology group. Two items need to be considered. First, if the operating room is being staffed by personnel working "overtime" that is . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION
Amr E. Abouleish, MD, MBA

RELATED ARTICLE

Longer Surgical Durations Can Lead to Significant Staffing Costs to the Anesthesiology Department and Hospital—Reply
Timothy J. Babineau
Arch Surg. 2005;140(2):212.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT