Invited commentary on: “Factors associated with potentially avoidable interhospital transfers in emergency general surgery—A call for quality improvement efforts”

An abundance of literature has established emergency general surgery (EGS) as a defined subset of acute surgical diseases that are associated with disproportionate mortality, morbidity, and cost compared with similar elective surgical conditions.1 Yet despite wide recognition of the substantial public health burden of EGS, systems of care to support and guide the care of EGS patients remain underdeveloped compared with other time-sensitive conditions such as trauma or emergency cardiac illness. The impact of this uncoordinated and often fragmented system is felt most acutely by patients requiring interhospital transfer to access tertiary-level care and specialized resources.
Source: Surgery - Category: Surgery Authors: Source Type: research