4 ms·

When cardiologists are away, I'd imagine no non-emergency procedures/surgeries are performed (no heart transplants, quintuple bypasses, etc), which has to be a

When cardiologists are away, I'd imagine no non-emergency procedures/surgeries are performed (no heart transplants, quintuple bypasses, etc), which has to be a significant factor here.

Pxtl 12y ago
Then that effect should appear in other disciplines, shouldn't it?
- tgb 12y ago
  My understanding is that they only looked at cardiac patients, so that wouldn't contradict the study.
- Fomite 12y ago
  Would depend on, among other things, how easy it is to "schedule" complicated cases. For some specialties this is straightforward, for others, it's not.
- et2o 12y ago
  See mortality during the Canadian physicians' strike.
- jfoster 12y ago
  It might depend on how risky the surgery is in each discipline. I'd expect heart and brain surgery to be among the riskiest, whereas other types of surgery might be significantly less risky. I wouldn't expect most cancer patients to die from their surgeries, for example.
DanBC 12y ago
I'd have thought (without looking at any evidence) that planned, routine, surgery would have better outcomes than unplanned emergency surgery.
et2o 12y ago
Aside: Cardiologists actually do not perform heart transplants or bypasses surgeries themselves, instead those are done by cardiothoracic surgeons. This is a pretty common misconception.
- jfoster 12y ago
  Do they not attend the same conferences, though?
  - et2o 12y ago
    I don't really know. This study looked at the ACA and AHA national conferences. I doubt there are many surgeons at the American Cardiology Association meeting; cardiology is highly specialized. There are probably some at the American Heart Association meeting.
anigbrowl 12y ago
Well, it might be interesting to see whether there's a difference between cardiologists attending conferences (making patients feel like their cardiologist must be strongly committed to his/her specialty) vs. cardiologists who are away on vacation.

When cardiologists are away, I'd imagine no non-emergency procedures/surgeries are performed (no heart transplants, quintuple bypasses, etc), which has to be a significant factor here.

Pxtl 12y ago

Then that effect should appear in other disciplines, shouldn't it?

tgb 12y ago
My understanding is that they only looked at cardiac patients, so that wouldn't contradict the study.
Fomite 12y ago
Would depend on, among other things, how easy it is to "schedule" complicated cases. For some specialties this is straightforward, for others, it's not.
et2o 12y ago
See mortality during the Canadian physicians' strike.
jfoster 12y ago
It might depend on how risky the surgery is in each discipline. I'd expect heart and brain surgery to be among the riskiest, whereas other types of surgery might be significantly less risky. I wouldn't expect most cancer patients to die from their surgeries, for example.

DanBC 12y ago

I'd have thought (without looking at any evidence) that planned, routine, surgery would have better outcomes than unplanned emergency surgery.

et2o 12y ago

Aside: Cardiologists actually do not perform heart transplants or bypasses surgeries themselves, instead those are done by cardiothoracic surgeons. This is a pretty common misconception.

jfoster 12y ago
Do they not attend the same conferences, though?
- et2o 12y ago
  I don't really know. This study looked at the ACA and AHA national conferences. I doubt there are many surgeons at the American Cardiology Association meeting; cardiology is highly specialized. There are probably some at the American Heart Association meeting.

anigbrowl 12y ago

Well, it might be interesting to see whether there's a difference between cardiologists attending conferences (making patients feel like their cardiologist must be strongly committed to his/her specialty) vs. cardiologists who are away on vacation.