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Editorial
. 2024 Jul 4;9(1):e001307.
doi: 10.1136/tsaco-2023-001307. eCollection 2024.

The importance and benefits of defining full-time equivalence in the field of acute care surgery

Randi N Smith  1   2 , Mari Freedberg  1   2 , Joanelle Bailey  3 , Marc DeMoya  4 , Amy Goldberg  5 , Kristan Staudenmayer  6
Affiliations
Editorial

The importance and benefits of defining full-time equivalence in the field of acute care surgery

Randi N Smith et al. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open. .

Abstract

Acute care surgery (ACS) encompasses five major pillars - trauma, surgical critical care, emergency general surgery, elective general surgery and surgical rescue. The specialty continues to evolve and due to high-acuity, high-volume and around-the-clock care, the workload can be significant leading to workforce challenges such as rightsizing of staff, work-life imbalance, surgeon burnout and more. To address these challenges and ensure a stable workforce, ACS as a specialty must be deliberate and thoughtful about how it manages workload and workforce going forward. In this article, we address the importance, benefits and challenges of defining full-time equivalence for ACS as a method to establish a stable ACS workforce for the future.

Keywords: acute; workload.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

References

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