Vascular Surgery Workforce: Evaluation and Estimation of Future Demand in the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND: Vascular disease is a common cause of death and disability in our growing elderly population and the demand for vascular procedures is increasing worldwide. Workforce planning is essential to meet future demand and provide safe vascular services. Our aim was to evaluate the current workforce in the United Kingdom and estimate future demand for vascular surgeons. METHODS: From November 2020 to January 2021, we surveyed UK vascular surgeons for information on their work patterns. We estimated current vascular surgery (VS) workforce using the National Vascular Registry (NVR) data and population data from the Office for National Statistics. To estimate future demand, we interrogated Hospital Episode Statistic (HES) data using Hospital Admitted Patient Care Activity (HAPCA) and linear trend analysis. RESULTS: NVR data estimate that currently there are 518 consultant VS in the United Kingdom, or 1 per 128,951 population, lower than international comparisons. HAPCA data (2012-2020) suggests VS Finished Consultant Episodes (FCE), admissions, and waiting lists are growing by approximately 2% per year, and we estimate the workforce will need to grow by more than 50% over the next 10 years to meet this demand and Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland recommendation. CONCLUSIONS: The UK has a shortage of vascular surgeons at a time when vascular activity is increasing. The VS workforce, both VS consultant and vascular surgeons in training numbers need to expand to address the ongoing shortage and maintain a safe level of service.

Vascular Surgeon Burnout and Resilience in the United Kingdom: A Report from the Vascular Society Workforce Committee.

BACKGROUND: Occupational burnout is a growing concern in frontline roles such as vascular surgery, and is associated with medical errors and shortened careers. Our aim is to measure burnout, resilience, and associated risk factors among vascular surgeons (VS) in the United Kingdom (UK). METHODS: We carried out an electronic survey of active VS in the UK using validated self-report questionnaires, including the following: Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and information on job characteristics, health, and well-being. Univariate regression analysis looked at potential risk factors. RESULTS: One hundred forty-eight VS responded (49% participation rate), and after excluding retirees and nonconsultants, 133 VS practicing in the UK were analyzed. Mean age was 49.9 ± 7.19 years; the majority (83.5%) were male. In total, 81.3% recorded ethnic identity as White. In addition, 93.2% worked full time; 74.8% were contracted above 10 programmed activities and 87.9% worked more than 40 hr/week. On-call was 1 in 6, or above, for 87.4%. Overall, 38.4% of VS had high burnout on the CBI. Resilience was also high, with BRS mean (standard deviation) of 3.6 (0.69) and median (interquartile range) of 3.7 (3-4). Univariate regression analysis found no significant risk factor associated with high burnout or resilience. CONCLUSIONS: VS in the UK have high levels of burnout and work long hours. Resilience levels were also high, which may offer some protection. However, policymakers and our surgical leaders should address contributing factors and excessive working hours and establish measures to identify and support surgeon well-being for optimal surgeon and patient safety.

Making surgical wards safer for patients with diabetes: reducing hypoglycaemia and insulin errors.

High-quality perioperative diabetes care is essential to improve surgical outcomes for patients with diabetes. Inadequate perioperative diabetes care is associated with increased wound complications, higher mortality rates and increased length of hospital stay. Despite national guidelines, surgical wards remain a high-risk area for poor diabetes care. An initial baseline audit in 2014 of vascular patients with diabetes undergoing major lower limb amputation identified poor glycaemic control in 90% of patients, with high rates of hypoglycaemia and insulin management errors in 75%. Less than 15% of patients received specialist diabetes input and 20% required third-party assistance for hypoglycaemia. This quality improvement project aimed to reduce hypoglycaemia, insulin management errors and patient harm events by 50% in vascular surgery patients over a 3-year period. Key interventions over three successive Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles included educational and guideline initiatives (2015), establishing a diabetes in-reach service (2016) and implementing a whiteboard sugar cube alert system for poor glycaemic control (2017). The final introduction of the whiteboard sugar cube alert system delivered the greatest impact in reducing hypoglycaemia rates by more than 50%, insulin management errors by 70% and patient harm events by 75%.

End-stage vascular access: direct intra-atrial insertion of a dialysis catheter.

Central venous occlusions are a frequent problem in hemodialysis patients. We describe the case of a patient with end-stage vascular access in whom we successfully inserted a direct intra-atrial dialysis line during coronary artery bypass grafting. This technique could be a significant contribution to patients in whom alternative vascular access options are exhausted.

Justifying a third pancreas transplant: a case report.

Early pancreas graft failure after simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplant can occur in up to 20% of recipients. Results after pancreas retransplant continue to improve, with results comparable to primary pancreas transplants. We describe an unusual case of a third pancreas transplant in which a remnant of a previous arterial Y-graft was used for the arterial anastomosis, and we discuss the factors used to justify the decision to do a third pancreas transplant.

Arterio-ureteric fistula following iliac angioplasty.

Arterio-ureteric fistulae are rare but can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. We describe a novel case in which an arterio-ureteric fistula occurred as a complication following external iliac artery angioplasty and stenting, in a patient who had undergone previous pelvic surgery, radiotherapy, ureteric stenting, and urinary diversion surgery. Prompt recognition enabled successful endovascular management using a covered stent.

The potassium channel opener levcromakalim causes expansive remodelling of experimental vein grafts.

BACKGROUND: Maintenance of luminal area is essential for the optimal performance of venous bypass grafts. However, injury and response to the arterial circulation evoke vascular remodelling that favors intimal hyperplasia, with luminal encroachment and inward remodelling. Potassium channel-opening drugs reduce tissue workload and peripheral vascular resistance and through these mechanisms could favor outward or expansive remodelling of vein grafts. We tested the hypothesis that levcromakalim, a potassium channel opener, would enhance expansive remodelling in vein grafts. METHODS: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in 33 rats with vena cava-to-aorta bypass grafts. Drugs were administered via osmotic pump for 7 days after surgery. Half the cohort had bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) infused at day 6. Morphometric analysis was conducted of pressure perfusion-fixed grafts harvested at 1 week and 4 weeks. RESULTS: At 1 week, lumen area was similar in both groups (1.82 +/- 0.39 mm(2) placebo vs 1.85 +/- 0.36 mm(2) levcromakalim), although medial cell density and BrdU staining were significantly increased in the placebo group. At 4 weeks, lumen area was unchanged in the placebo group (1.88 +/- 0.51 mm(2)) but had increased to 2.32 +/- 0.46 mm(2) in the levcromakalim group (P = .039 vs 1 week), with a very significant reduction in the intimal area (levcromakalim, 0.06 +/- 0.02 mm(2) vs placebo, 0.33 +/- 0.17 mm(2); P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Early, short-term treatment with levcromakalim favors expansive remodelling of experimental vein grafts to mimic the effect of external stenting. This expansive remodelling was associated with a reduction in medial cell proliferation at 1 week. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Critical limb ischemia can be treated by bypass surgery or angioplasty, but inward remodelling with restenosis is a common problem. There has been little previous experimental work to identify treatments associated with expansive remodelling, which would increase the chances of vessel patency. Here, in a randomized trial, we show that short-term treatment with a potassium channel opener (a class of drug that can be used to treat hypertension) results in strong, expansive remodelling, with increases the lumen area and graft size of experimental vein grafts by >25%.