What does the workload of a European hand surgeon look like?

At the IFSSH-FESSH 2022 Congress in London there was a session dedicated to “hand surgery around the world”. Hand surgeons from different parts of the world were asked to give an overview of their daily work and that of a hand surgeon from that particular continent, including Europe.

It was a fantastic session in which the contrasts in which we live and work were once again clearly visible. Although the content of our work may not differ that much, the workload does; the conditions under which we work, the facilities, training and scientific possibilities differ enormously.

With deep respect, I learned how some of us try to provide the best possible care under very marginal conditions.

It was my honour, to demonstrate the workload in Europe. Using a survey, I tried to form a good picture of this. Below a summary of the most important results is given, for more extensive information you can use the link.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all those who have contributed and completed the survey.

 

Summary of the survey results

Most of the responders came from Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Half of the respondents came from countries in which hand surgery is recognized as a speciality. One third of the responders were women and most responders were more than 50 years old and consultant, for at least 10 years.

The trainee programme differed enormously, most had hand surgery on top of a core speciality. Still almost 30% does not have an official diploma, those who have a diploma, it mostly concerns a national diploma, some had two diplomas. Around 30% had the EBHS-diploma.

The type of hospitals respondents are working in is almost equally divided between academic, private and public. Almost half of the surgeons work in at least two kinds of hospitals.

Most hospitals have an electronic patient system (EPD), but unfortunately only 25% has a system enabling outcome measurements.

Hand surgeons work hard, mostly between 40-60 hours per week and at least 50% of time is spent on hand surgery. Obviously, most time is spent at patient-related work, mainly surgery and much less time on research, management and education. It is clear; surgeons like to operate.

Most time is spent on elective hand surgery but still more than half of the surgeons spent at least 25% of their time on trauma. 85% of surgeons have a subspecialty of which trauma related pathology, wrist, arthroscopy and nerve are the most popular ones.

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Brigitte van der Heijden
Chair Congress Committee