Back to 2017 Program

Title:
Physical Discomfort in Vascular Surgeons
Authors:
Victor J. Davila, MD, William M. Stone, MD, Susan Hallbeck, PhD, Samuel R. Money, MD, MBA
Objective:
Vascular Surgeons may experience physical discomfort during open and endovascular procedures. We aim to understand and quantify the timing, severity and location of the pain, as well as identify how this correlates to other factors.
Methods:
An electronic survey was distributed to 1164 Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery members during the summer of 2016. 1089 (93.6%) were successfully delivered and 223 responses received (response rate=18.9%). The survey was designed to quantify pain before, during, and after surgical procedures using the modified Borg scale. Questions aimed at determining surgeon workload, type of practice, burnout, and professional satisfaction were also included.
Results:
Of the 223 total responses, 182 were male (82.7%). Workload data revealed over 87% of surgeons operate 3 or more days per week and 4 or greater hours per day. Lead garments were worn by 48.4% every day with 91.4% wearing lead at least once per week.
Pain was present in 44.3% of surgeons prior to beginning an operation, 78.3% during an operation and was present in 82.8% at completion. Age had no effect by these results, and while not reaching statistical significance, there was a trend correlating surgeons who wear lead experiencing more pain immediately after performing surgery (p=0.090). This finding was not identified in those with persistent pain (p=0.322). 31.4% of surgeons acknowledged seeking medical help and only 4.1% reported pain to their institutions.
Professional satisfaction among vascular surgeons was inversely correlated with pain. Those expressing satisfaction with their profession had less pain prior to and two days after performing surgery (p=<0.005).
Self-reported burnout among surgeons positively correlated to increased pain. Burned out surgeons reported more pain while performing surgery (p=<0.001), immediately after performing surgery (p=<0.001), a day or two after performing surgery (p=<0.001), and persistent pain (p=<0.001).
Conclusions:
Physical discomfort during the performance of daily duties by vascular surgeons is ubiquitous. Our survey shows a correlation between self-reported workplace burnout and increased severity of work related pain. Additional studies are needed to determine causality of these correlations and what potential interventions can be taken to decrease all work related pain.