The Impact of a Surgical Unit’s Structure and Operative Technique on Quality in Two Swedish Rural Hospitals

Figures & data

TABLE 1 Baseline characteristics of patients

Variable	Sundsvall	Östersund	p value
	(n = 286)	(n = 321)
Age (yr)	47.8 ± 14.9	48.6 ± 16.9	0.671^a
Sex			0.563^b
Male	96 (34%)	116 (36%)
Female	190 (66%)	205 (64%)
BMI (kg/m^2)	27.9 ± 4.4	28.7 ± 4.8	0.669^a

Continuous data are presented as mean ± SD. Proportion as %.

a Mann-Whitney U test.

b Chi-square test for independence.

TABLE 2 Surgical data

Variable	Sundsvall (n = 286)	Östersund (n = 321)	p value	National average
Operative time (min)	48.3 ± 19.2	108.6 ± 35.5	< 0.001^a	83.5 ± 36.8^c
Type of surgery			< 0.001^b
Outpatient surgery, n (%)	270 (94%)	75 (23%)
Inpatient surgery, n (%)	16 (6%)	246 (77%)

Continuous data are presented as mean ± SD. Proportion as %.

a Mann-Whitney U test.

b Chi-square test for independence.

c Elective LC due to pain from gallstones between 2014 and 2016. Approximate values.

TABLE 3 Postoperative complications within the first 30 days

Variable	Sundsvall (n = 285)	Östersund (n = 321)	p value	National average
30-day morbidity, n (%)	6 (2.1%)	7 (2.2%)	1.00^a	4.7%^b
Bile duct injury, reoperated	1 (0.3%)	0 (0%)	0.471^a
Bleeding, reoperated	2 (0.7%)	0 (0%)	0.221^a
Bile leakage, percutaneous drainage	1 (0.3%)	5 (1.6%)	0.221^a
Abscess, percutaneous drainage	2 (0.7%)	2 (0.6%)	1.00^a
Mortality	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	–

Proportions are presented as %.

a Fisher's exact test.

b Proportion of surgical complications after elective LC due to pain from gallstones, 2014–2016.