The invisible work of transfer centre nurses: A qualitative study of strategies to overcome communication challenges.

AIMS: To explore the role of transfer centre nurses and how they facilitate communication between referring and accepting providers during calls about interhospital transfers, including their strategies to overcome communication challenges. DESIGN: A qualitative interview study. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 transfer centre nurses at one tertiary medical centre from March to August 2019, asking participants to describe their work. We performed content analysis, applying codes based on the Relational Coordination Framework and generating emergent codes, then organized codes in higher-order concepts. We followed the COREQ checklist. RESULTS: Transfer centre nurses employed multiple strategies to mitigate communication challenges. When referring providers had misconceptions about the transfer centre nurse's role and the accepting hospital's processes, the nurses informed referring providers why sharing information with them was necessary. If providers expressed frustrations or lacked understanding about their counterpart's caseload, the nurses managed providers' emotions by letting them "vent," explaining the other provider's situational context and describing the hospital's capabilities. Some nurses also mediated conflict and sought to break the tension if providers debated about the best course of action. When providers struggled to share complete and accurate information, the nurses hunted down details and 'filled in the blanks'. CONCLUSION: Transfer centre nurses perform invisible work throughout the lifespan of interhospital transfers. Nurses' expert knowledge of the transfer process and hospitals' capabilities can enhance provider communication. Meanwhile, providers' lack of knowledge of the nurse's role can impede respectful and efficient transfer conversations. Interventions to support and optimize the transfer centre nurses' critical work are needed. IMPACT: This study describes how transfer centre nurses facilitate communication and overcome challenges during calls about interhospital transfers. An intervention that supports this critical work has the potential to benefit nurses, providers and patients by ensuring accurate and complete information exchange in an effective, efficient manner that respects all parties. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: This study was designed to capture the perspectives and experiences of transfer centre nurses themselves through interviews. Therefore, it was not conducted using input or suggestions from the public or the patient population served by the organization.

Greater patient sharing between hospitals is associated with better outcomes for transferred emergency general surgery patients.

BACKGROUND: Access to emergency surgical care has declined as the rural workforce has decreased. Interhospital transfers of patients are increasingly necessary, and care coordination across settings is critical to quality care. We characterize the role of repeated hospital patient sharing in outcomes of transfers for emergency general surgery (EGS) patients. METHODS: A multicenter study of Wisconsin inpatient acute care hospital stays that involved transfer of EGS patients using data from the Wisconsin Hospital Association, a statewide hospital discharge census for 2016 to 2018. We hypothesized that higher proportion of patients transferred between hospitals would result in better outcomes. We examined the association between the proportion of EGS patients transferred between hospitals and patient outcomes, including in-hospital morbidity, mortality, and length of stay. Additional variables included hospital organizational characteristics and patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. RESULTS: One hundred eighteen hospitals transferred 3,197 emergency general surgery patients over the 2-year study period; 1,131 experienced in-hospital morbidity, mortality, or extended length of stay (>75th percentile). Patients were 62 years old on average, 50% were female, and 5% were non-White. In the mixed-effects model, hospitals' proportion of patients shared was associated with lower odds of an in-hospital complication; specifically, when the proportion of patients shared between two hospitals doubled, the relative odds of any outcome changed by 0.85. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest the importance of emergent relationships between hospital dyads that share patients in quality outcomes. Transfer protocols should account for established efficiencies, familiarity, and coordination between hospitals. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic and Epidemiological; Level III.

Translating the Value of the Academic Surgeon Into Salary, Time, and Resources.

Academic surgeons provide tremendous value to institutions including notoriety, publicity, cutting-edge clinical advances, extramural funding, and academic growth and development. In turn, these attributes may result in improved reputation scores and hospital or medical center rankings. While many hospital systems, schools of medicine, and departments of surgery claim to have a major commitment to academic surgery and research, academic surgeons are often undercompensated compared to clinically focused counterparts. Existing salary benchmarks (e.g., the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) or the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)) are often used but are imperfect. Thus, the value proposition for academic surgeons goes beyond compensation and often includes protected time for academic pursuit, nonsalary financial support, and other intangible benefits to being associated with a major academic center (e.g., abundance of scientific collaborators, infrastructure for grant management). As a result, institution-specific practices have developed and academic surgeons are left to negotiate salary support including bonus structures, protected time, and recruitment packages on a case-by-case basis without a clear roadmap. A diverse panel representing a range of academic surgical experiences was convened at the 2022 Academic Surgical Congress to illuminate this complex, often stress-inducing, aspect of an academic surgeon's professional career.

Emergency General Surgery Quality Improvement: A Review of Recommended Structure and Key Issues.

Emergency general surgery (EGS) accounts for 11% of hospital admissions, with more than 3 million admissions per year and more than 50% of operative mortality in the US. Recent research into EGS has ignited multiple quality improvement initiatives, and the process of developing national standards and verification in EGS has been initiated. Such programs for quality improvement in EGS include registry formation, protocol and standards creation, evidenced-based protocols, disease-specific protocol implementation, regional collaboratives, targeting of high-risk procedures such as exploratory laparotomy, focus on special populations like geriatrics, and targeting improvements in high opportunity outcomes such as failure to rescue. The authors present a collective narrative review of advances in quality improvement structure in EGS in recent years and summarize plans for a national EGS registry and American College of Surgeons verification for this under-resourced area of surgery.

Quality of Care for Gallstone Pancreatitis-the Impact of the Acute Care Surgery Model and Hospital-Level Operative Resources.

BACKGROUND: Index cholecystectomy is the standard of care for gallstone pancreatitis. Hospital-level operative resources and implementation of an acute care surgery (ACS) model may impact the ability to perform index cholecystectomy. We aimed to determine the influence of structure and process measures related to operating room access on achieving index cholecystectomy for gallstone pancreatitis. METHODS: In 2015, we surveyed 2811 US hospitals on ACS practices, including infrastructure for operative access. A total of 1690 hospitals (60%) responded. We anonymously linked survey data to 2015 State Inpatient Databases from 17 states using American Hospital Association identifiers. We identified patients ≥ 18 years who were admitted with gallstone pancreatitis. Patients transferred from another facility were excluded. Univariate and multivariable regression analyses, clustered by hospital and adjusted for patient factors, were performed to examine multiple structure and process variables related to achieving an index cholecystectomy rate of ≥ 75% (high performers). RESULTS: Over the study period, 5656 patients were admitted with gallstone pancreatitis and 70% had an index cholecystectomy. High-performing hospitals achieved an index cholecystectomy rate of 84.1% compared to 58.5% at low-performing hospitals. On multivariable regression analysis, only teaching vs. non-teaching hospital (OR 2.91, 95% CI 1.11-7.70) and access to dedicated, daytime operative resources (i.e., block time) vs. no/little access (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.11-3.37) were associated with high-performing hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Access to dedicated, daytime operative resources is associated with high quality of care for gallstone pancreatitis. Health systems should consider the addition of dedicated, daytime operative resources for acute care surgery service lines to improve patient care.

Gaps in Emergency General Surgery Coverage in the United States.

INTRODUCTION: Despite three million adults in the United States (US) being admitted annually for emergency general surgery (EGS) conditions, which disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, we lack an understanding of the barriers to round-the-clock EGS care. Our objective was to measure gaps in round-the-clock EGS care. METHODS: From August 2015 to December 2015, we surveyed all US-based, adult acute care general hospitals that have an emergency room and ≥1 operating room and provide EGS care, utilizing paper and electronic methods. Surgeons or chief medical officers were queried regarding EGS practices. RESULTS: Of 2,811 hospitals, 1,634 (58.1%) responded; 279 (17.1%) were unable to always provide round-the-clock EGS care. Rural location, smaller bed size, and non-teaching status were associated with lack of round-the-clock care. Inconsistent surgeon coverage was the primary reason for lacking round-the-clock EGS care (n=162; 58.1%). However, lack of a tiered system for booking emergency cases, no anesthesia availability overnight, and no stipend for EGS call were also associated with the inability to provide round-the-clock EGS care. DISCUSSION: We found significant gaps in access to EGS care, often attributable to workforce deficiencies.

In-house intensivist presence does not affect mortality in select emergency general surgery patients.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the relationship between availability of round-the-clock (RTC) in-house intensivists and patient outcomes in people who underwent surgery for a life-threatening emergency general surgery (LT-EGS) disease such as necrotizing soft-tissue infection, ischemic enteritis, perforated viscus, and toxic colitis. METHODS: Data on hospital-level critical care structures and processes from a 2015 survey of 2,811 US hospitals were linked to patient-level data from 17 State Inpatient Databases. Patients who were admitted with a primary diagnosis code for an LT-EGS disease of interest and underwent surgery on date of admission were included in analyses. RESULTS: We identified 3,620 unique LT-EGS admissions at 368 hospitals. At 66% (n = 243) of hospitals, 83.5% (n = 3,021) of patients were treated at hospitals with RTC intensivist-led care. These facilities were more likely to have in-house respiratory therapists and protocols to ensure availability of blood products or adherence to Surviving Sepsis Guidelines. When accounting for other key factors including overnight surgeon availability, perioperative staffing, and annual emergency general surgery case volume, not having a protocol to ensure adherence to Surviving Sepsis Guidelines (adjusted odds ratio, 2.10; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-3.94) was associated with increased odds of mortality. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that focused treatment of sepsis along with surgical source control, rather than RTC intensivist presence, is key feature of optimizing EGS patient outcomes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, level III.

Informed Consent and Informed Decision-Making in High-Risk Surgery: A Quantitative Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Informed consent is an ethical and legal requirement that differs from informed decision-making-a collaborative process that fosters participation and provides information to help patients reach treatment decisions. The objective of this study was to measure informed consent and informed decision-making before major surgery. STUDY DESIGN: We audio-recorded 90 preoperative patient-surgeon conversations before major cardiothoracic, vascular, oncologic, and neurosurgical procedures at 3 centers in the US and Canada. Transcripts were scored for 11 elements of informed consent based on the American College of Surgeons' definition and 9 elements of informed decision-making using Braddock's validated scale. Uni- and bivariate analyses tested associations between decision outcomes as well as patient, consultation, and surgeon characteristics. RESULTS: Overall, surgeons discussed more elements of informed consent than informed decision-making. They most frequently described the nature of the illness, the operation, and potential complications, but were less likely to assess patient understanding. When a final treatment decision was deferred, surgeons were more likely to discuss elements of informed decision-making focusing on uncertainty (50% vs 15%, p = 0.006) and treatment alternatives (63% vs 27%, p = 0.02). Conversely, when surgery was scheduled, surgeons completed more elements of informed consent. These results were not associated with the presence of family, history of previous surgery, location, or surgeon specialty. CONCLUSIONS: Surgeons routinely discuss components of informed consent with patients before high-risk surgery. However, surgeons often fail to review elements unique to informed decision-making, such as the patients' role in the decision, their daily life, uncertainty, understanding, or patient preference.

Importance of Radiologists in Optimizing Outcomes for Older Americans with Acute Abdomen.

BACKGROUND: Patients presenting with acute abdominal pain often undergo a computed tomography (CT) scan as part of their diagnostic workup. We investigated the relationship between availability, timeliness, and interpretation of CT imaging and outcomes for life-threatening intra-abdominal diseases or "acute abdomen," in older Americans. METHODS: Data from a 2015 national survey of 2811 hospitals regarding emergency general surgery structures and processes (60.1% overall response, n = 1690) were linked to 2015 Medicare inpatient claims data. We identified beneficiaries aged ≥65 admitted emergently with a confirmatory acute abdomen diagnosis code and operative intervention on the same calendar date. Multivariable regression models adjusted for significant covariates determined odds of complications and mortality based on CT resources. RESULTS: We identified 9125 patients with acute abdomen treated at 1253 hospitals, of which 78% had ≥64-slice CT scanners and 85% had 24/7 CT technicians. Overnight CT reads were provided by in-house radiologists at 14% of hospitals and by teleradiologists at 66%. Patients were predominantly 65-74 y old (43%), white (88%), females (60%), and with ≥3 comorbidities (67%) and 8.6% died. STAT radiology reads by a board-certified radiologist rarely/never available in 2 h was associated with increased odds of systemic complication and mortality (adjusted odds ratio 2.6 [1.3-5.4] and 2.3 [1.1-4.8], respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Delays obtaining results are associated with adverse outcomes in older patients with acute abdomen. This may be due to delays in surgical consultation and time to source control while waiting for imaging results. Processes to ensure timely interpretation of CT scans in patients with abdominal pain may improve outcomes in high-risk patients.

Re-examining "Never Letting the Sun Rise or Set on a Bowel Obstruction" in the Era of Acute Care Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Small bowel obstruction (SBO) no longer mandates urgent surgical evaluation raising the question of the role of operating room (OR) access on SBO outcomes. METHODS: Data from our 2015 survey on emergency general surgery (EGS) practices, including queries on OR availability and surgical staffing, were anonymously linked to adult SBO patient data from 17 Statewide Inpatient Databases (SIDs). Univariate and multivariable associations between OR access and timing of operation, complications, length of stay (LOS), and in-hospital mortality were measured. RESULTS: Of 32,422 SBO patients, 83% were treated non-operatively. Operative patients were older (median 66 vs 65 years), had more comorbidities (53% vs 46% with ≥ 3), and experienced more systemic complications (36% vs 23%), higher mortality (2.8% vs 1.4%), and longer LOS (median 10 vs 4 days). Patients had lower odds of operation if treated at hospitals lacking processes to tier urgent cases (aOR 0.90, 95% CI [0.83-0.99]) and defer elective cases (aOR 0.87 [0.80-0.94]). Patients had higher odds of operation if treated at hospitals with surgeons sometimes (aOR 1.14 [1.04-1.26]) or rarely/never (aOR 1.16 [1.06-1.26]) covering EGS at more than one location compared to always. Odds of systemic complication (OR 2.0 [1.6-2.4]), operative complication (OR 1.5 [1.2-1.8]), and mortality were increased for very late versus early operation (OR 2.6 [1.7-4.0]). CONCLUSIONS: Although few patients with SBO require emergency surgery, we identified EGS structures and processes that are important for providing timely and appropriate intervention for patients whose SBO remains unresolved and requires surgery.

Identifying the fundamental structures and processes of care contributing to emergency general surgery quality using a mixed-methods Donabedian approach.

BACKGROUND: Acute Care Surgery (ACS) was developed as a structured, team-based approach to providing round-the-clock emergency general surgery (EGS) care for adult patients needing treatment for diseases such as cholecystitis, gastrointestinal perforation, and necrotizing fasciitis. Lacking any prior evidence on optimizing outcomes for EGS patients, current implementation of ACS models has been idiosyncratic. We sought to use a Donabedian approach to elucidate potential EGS structures and processes that might be associated with improved outcomes as an initial step in designing the optimal model of ACS care for EGS patients. METHODS: We developed and implemented a national survey of hospital-level EGS structures and processes by surveying surgeons or chief medical officers regarding hospital-level structures and processes that directly or indirectly impacted EGS care delivery in 2015. These responses were then anonymously linked to 2015 data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) annual survey, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review claims (MedPAR), 17 State Inpatient Databases (SIDs) using AHA unique identifiers (AHAID). This allowed us to combine hospital-level data, as reported in our survey or to the AHA, to patient-level data in an effort to further examine the role of EGS structures and processes on EGS outcomes. We describe the multi-step, iterative process utilizing the Donabedian framework for quality measurement that serves as a foundation for later work in this project. RESULTS: Hospitals that responded to the survey were primarily non-governmental and located in urban settings. A plurality of respondent hospitals had fewer than 100 inpatient beds. A minority of the hospitals had medical school affiliations. DISCUSSION: Our results will enable us to develop a measure of preparedness for delivering EGS care in the US, provide guidance for regionalized care models for EGS care, tiering of ACS programs based on the robustness of their EGS structures and processes and the quality of their outcomes, and formulate triage guidelines based on patient risk factors and severity of EGS disease. CONCLUSIONS: Our work provides a template for team science applicable to research efforts combining primary data collection (i.e., that derived from our survey) with existing national data sources (i.e., SIDs and MedPAR).

The association between self-declared acute care surgery services and critical care resources: Results from a national survey.

PURPOSE: We examined differences in critical care structures and processes between hospitals with Acute Care Surgery (ACS) versus general surgeon on call (GSOC) models for emergency general surgery (EGS) care. METHODS: 2811 EGS-capable hospitals were surveyed to examine structures and processes including critical care domains and ACS implementation. Differences between ACS and GSOC hospitals were compared using appropriate tests of association and logistic regression models. RESULTS: 272/1497 hospitals eligible for analysis (18.2%) reported they use an ACS model. EGS patients at ACS hospitals were more likely to be admitted to a combined trauma/surgical ICU or a dedicated surgical ICU. GSOC hospitals had lower adjusted odds of having 24-h ICU coverage, in-house intensivists or respiratory therapists, and 4/6 critical-care protocols. CONCLUSIONS: Critical care delivery is a key component of EGS care. While harnessing of critical care structures and processes varies across hospitals that have implemented ACS, overall ACS models of care appear to have more robust critical care practices.

Role of interprofessional teams in emergency general surgery patient outcomes.

BACKGROUND: In response to duty hour restrictions, hospitals expanded residency programs and added advanced practice providers. We sought to determine if type of clinical support was associated with emergency general surgery outcomes. METHODS: As part of our 2015 survey of acute care hospitals, we asked hospitals whether residents and advanced practice providers participate in emergency general surgery care. Data from responding hospitals were linked to patient data (≥18 years old admitted with an emergency general surgery diagnosis) from 17 State Inpatient Databases using American Hospital Association identifiers. Analyses compared emergency general surgery patient and hospital characteristics based on type of providers assisting emergency general surgery surgeons (none, only advanced practice providers, only residents, or both). Multivariable analysis determined if presence of advanced practice providers and/or residents was associated with type of management, mortality, or complications. RESULTS: Eighty-three hospitals and 49,271 unique emergency general surgery admissions were included. Hospitals without residents and advanced practice providers were most likely to manage patients operatively. However, hospitals with residents (alone or with advanced practice providers) had reduced odds of systemic complication compared with hospitals without clinical support (adjusted odds ratio 0.77 [95% confidence interval 0.60-0.98] and adjusted odds ratio 0.77 [95% confidence interval 0.62-0.95], respectively), while hospitals with only residents had the lowest odds of operative complication. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the positive effect residents (alone or partnering with advanced practice providers) can have on emergency general surgery patient outcomes.

Effect of Transfer Status on Outcomes of Emergency General Surgery Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Transferred emergency general surgery (EGS) patients are a vulnerable, high acuity population. The outcomes of and health care utilization among transferred (TRAN) as compared to directly admitted (DA) patients have been studied primarily using single institution or hospital system data which limits generalizability. We evaluated these outcomes among EGS patients using a national database. METHODS: We identified encounters of patients aged ≥18 years with a diagnosis of EGS as defined by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma in the 2008-2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). Multivariable regression analyses determined if transfer status independently predicted in-hospital mortality (logistic regression) and morbidity (presence of any complication among those who survived to discharge; logistic regression), cost (log-linear regression), and duration of stay (among those who survived to discharge; log-linear regression) accounting for the NIS sampling design. RESULTS: We identified 274,145 TRAN (57,885 unweighted) and 10,456,100 DA (2,187,132 unweighted) encounters. On univariate analysis, TRAN patients were more likely to have greater comorbidity scores, have Medicare insurance, and reside in an area with a lesser median household income compared to DA patients (p<0.0001). Mortality was greater in the TRAN vs DA groups (4.4% vs 1.6%; p<0.0001). Morbidity (presence of any complication) was also greater among TRAN patients (38.8% vs 26.1%; p<0.0001). Morbidity among TRAN patients was primarily due to urinary- (13.7%), gastrointestinal- (12.9%), and pulmonary-related (13.3%) complications. Median duration of hospital stay was 4.3 days for TRAN vs 3.0 days for DA (p<0.0001) patients. Median cost was greater for TRAN patients ($8,935 vs $7,167; p<0.0001). Regression analyses determined that after adjustment, TRAN patients had statistically significantly greater mortality, morbidity, and cost as well as longer durations of stay. CONCLUSIONS: EGS patients who are transferred experience increased in-hospital morbidity and mortality as well as increased durations of stay and cost. As the population and age of patients diagnosed with EGS conditions increase while the EGS workforce decreases, the need for inter-hospital transfers will increase. Identifying risk factors associated with worse outcomes among transferred patients can inform the design of initiatives in performance improvement and direct the finite resources available to this vulnerable patient population.

Women surgeons and the emergence of acute care surgery programs.

BACKGROUND: In parallel to women entering general surgery training, acute care surgery (ACS) has been developing as a team-based approach to emergency general surgery (EGS). We sought to examine predictors of women surgeons in EGS generally, and ACS particularly. METHODS: From our national survey, we determined the proportion of women surgeons within EGS hospitals. We compared the proportion of women surgeons based on hospitals characteristics using chi-squared tests, then used regression models to measure odds of ACS relative to the proportion of women. RESULTS: 779 (50.4%) hospitals had zero women surgeons. These hospitals were more likely non-ACS and non-teaching with <200 beds. ACS had a higher median proportion of women surgeons (17%) compared to non-ACS (0%). CONCLUSION: Our study highlights the dearth of women representation within EGS hospitals nationally and illuminates some of the underlying characteristics of ACS that may draw women: urban, academic, and staffed by more recently trained surgeons. SUMMARY: Using a national survey of Emergency General Surgery (EGS) hospitals, we sought to examine predictors of women surgeons in EGS generally, and acute care surgery (ACS) particularly. We found that 779 (50.4%) hospitals had zero women surgeons. Women were more likely to be among EGS surgeons at hospitals with ACS models. Our study highlights the dearth of women representation within EGS hospitals nationally and illuminates some of the underlying characteristics of ACS that may draw women: urban, academic, and staffed by a higher proportion of newly trained surgeons.

The association between self-declared acute care surgery services and operating room access: Results from a national survey.

BACKGROUND: Timely access to the operating room (OR) for emergency general surgery (EGS) diseases is key to optimizing outcomes. We conducted a national survey on EGS structures and processes to examine if implementation of acute care surgery (ACS) would improve OR accessibility compared with a traditional general surgeon on call (GSOC) approach. METHODS: We surveyed 2,811 acute care general hospitals in the United States capable of EGS care. The questionnaire included queries regarding structures and processes related to OR access and on the model of EGS care (ACS vs. GSOC). Associations between the EGS care model and structures and processes to ensure OR access were measured using univariate and multivariate models (adjusted for hospital characteristics). RESULTS: Of 1,690 survey respondents (60.1%), 1,497 reported ACS or GSOC. 272 (18.2%) utilized an ACS model. The ACS hospitals were more likely to have more than 5 days of block time and a tiered system of booking urgent/emergent cases compared with GSOC hospitals (34.2% vs. 7.4% and 85.3% vs. 57.6%, respectively; all p values <0.001). Surgeons at ACS hospitals were more likely to be free of competing clinical duties, be in-house overnight, and cover at a single hospital overnight when covering EGS (40.1% vs. 4.7%, 64.7% vs. 25.6%, and 84.9% vs. 64.9%, respectively; all p values <0.001). The ACS hospitals were more likely to have overnight in-house scrub techs, OR nurses, and recovery room nurses (69.9% vs. 13.8%, 70.6% vs. 13.9%, and 45.6% vs. 5.4%, respectively; all p values <0.001). On multivariable analysis, ACS hospitals had higher odds of all structures and processes that would improve OR access. CONCLUSION: The ACS implementation is associated with factors that may improve OR access. This finding has implications for potential expansion of EGS care models that ensure prompt OR access for the EGS diseases that warrant emergency surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, Level III.

Association between operating room access and mortality for life-threatening general surgery emergencies.

BACKGROUND: Few diseases truly require emergency surgery today. We investigated the relationship between access to operating room (OR) and outcomes for patients with life-threatening emergency general surgery (LT-EGS) diseases at US hospitals. METHODS: In 2015, we surveyed 2,811 US hospitals on EGS practices, including how OR access is assured (e.g., OR staffing, block time). There were 1,690 (60%) hospitals that responded. We anonymously linked survey data to 2015 Statewide Inpatient Sample data (17 states) using American Hospital Association identifiers. Adults admitted with life-threatening diagnoses (e.g., necrotizing fasciitis, perforated viscus) who underwent operative intervention the same calendar day as hospital admission were included. Primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Univariate and multivariable regression analyses, clustered by treating hospital and adjusted for patient factors, were performed to examine hospital-level OR access variables. RESULTS: Overall, 3,620 patients were admitted with LT-EGS diseases. The median age was 63 years (interquartile range, 51-75), with half having three or more comorbidities (50%). Thirty-four percent had one or more major systemic complication, and 5% died. The majority got care at hospitals with less than 1 day of EGS block time but with policies to ensure emergency access to the OR. After adjusting for age, sex, race, insurance status, comorbidities, systemic complications, and surgical complications, we found that less presence of an in-house EGS surgeon, compared with around the clock, was associated with increased mortality (rarely/never in-house surgeon: odds ratio, 2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI],1.1-5.3; sometimes in-house surgeon: odds ratio, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1-2.3). In addition, after controlling for other factors, on-call overnight recovery room nurse, compared with in-house, was associated with an increased mortality (odds ratio, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.5-3.1). CONCLUSION: Round-the-clock availability of personnel, specifically emergency general surgeons and recovery room nurses, is associated with decreased mortality. These findings have implications for the creation of EGS patient triage criteria and Acute Care Surgery Centers of Excellence. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, level III.