General surgical practice patterns in Nova Scotia: the role of the "generalist" general surgeon

Abstract

Objective: To determine the role of traditional "generalist" general surgeons in Nova Scotia.

Design: An anonymous mail survey.

Setting: The Province of Nova Scotia.

Participants: Sixty-two active general surgeons listed on the Nova Scotia Provincial Medical Board Registry.

Interventions: A questionnaire to compare the practice patterns of community surgeons, regional surgeons and tertiary care surgeons.

Main outcome measures: The availability of non-general-surgery subspecialty colleagues in the hospital setting, the extent of non-general-surgery subspecialty practices of the participating surgeons, the types of procedures they commonly perform and the adequacy of their general surgery training to meet their present practice requirements.

Results: The questionnaire response rate was 79%. Community surgeons had few non-general-surgery subspecialty colleagues, and the majority maintained broad "generalist" general surgical practices. Regional surgeons had more non-general-surgery subspecialty colleagues, but many still had surgical practices that included the non-general-surgery subspecialties. Tertiary surgeons had adequate non-general-surgery subspecialty colleagues and maintained narrow general surgery practices.

Conclusions: In Nova Scotia, "generalist" general surgeons presently provide non-general-surgery subspecialty services in both regional and community hospital settings.