High regional variation in prostate surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: Among various treatment options for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), surgical therapy is the most invasive. As Switzerland has the highest transurethral prostatectomy rate among OECD countries, we assessed the regional variation in prostate surgery for BPH and explored potential determinants of variation. METHODS: We conducted a population-based analysis using discharge data for men aged ≥40 years with transurethral or simple prostatectomy from all Swiss hospitals during 2013-2018. After excluding patients with genitourinary/prostate cancer, we derived hospital service areas (HSAs) by analyzing patient flows. We calculated age-standardized mean procedure rates and variation indices (extremal quotient [EQ] and systematic component of variation [SCV]). We estimated the reduction in variance across HSAs of prostatectomy rates in multilevel regression models, with incremental adjustment for age, regional cultural and socioeconomic factors, disease burden, density of urologists, and the time since urologists' graduation. RESULTS: Overall, 44,253 prostatectomies (42,710 transurethral and 1543 simple) from 44 HSAs were analyzed. The mean age-standardized prostate surgery rate was 314 (range 166-500) per 100,000 men aged ≥40 years per year. The EQ was 3.01 and the SCV 5.53, indicating a high regional variation. In multivariate models, men aged 75-79 years had an 11.6-fold higher prostatectomy rate than those aged 50-54 years. French/Italian language areas had a 21% lower rate than Swiss German speaking areas. Socioeconomic factors, disease burden, and density of urologist/time since graduation were not associated with prostatectomy rates. After full adjustment, 80% of the variance in prostate surgery across HSAs remained unexplained. CONCLUSION: We found a remarkably high regional variation in prostate surgery rates for BPH within Switzerland.

The well-being of Swiss general internal medicine residents.

BACKGROUND: Physician well-being has an impact on productivity and quality of care. Residency training is a particularly stressful period. OBJECTIVE: To assess the well-being of general internal medicine (GIM) residents and its association with personal and work-related factors. METHODS: We conducted an anonymous electronic survey among GIM residents from 13 Swiss teaching hospitals. We explored the association between a reduced well-being (≥5 points based on the Physician Well-Being Index [PWBI]) and personal and work-related factors using multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression. RESULTS: The response rate was 54% (472/880). Overall, 19% of residents had a reduced well-being, 60% felt burned out (emotional exhaustion), 47% were worried that their work was hardening them emotionally (depersonalisation), and 21% had career choice regret. Age (odds ratio [OR] 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05–1.34), working hours per week (OR 1.04 per hour, 95% CI 1.01–1.07) and <2.5 rewarding work hours per day (OR 3.73, 95% CI 2.01–6.92) were associated with reduced well-being. Administrative workload and satisfaction with the electronic medical record were not. We found significant correlations between PWBI score and job satisfaction (rs = -0.54, p<0.001), medical errors (rs = 0.18, p<0.001), suicidal ideation (rs = 0.12, p = 0.009) and the intention to leave clinical practice (rs = 0.38, p <0.001) CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 20% of Swiss GIM residents appear to have a reduced well-being and many show signs of distress or have career choice regret. Having few hours of rewarding work and a high number of working hours were the most important modifiable predictors of reduced well-being. Healthcare organisations have an ethical responsibility to implement interventions to improve physician well-being.

Assessing the mental wellbeing of next generation general practitioners: a cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Future and practising GPs encounter various stressors, which can potentially impair mental wellbeing and develop into mental illnesses. AIM: To assess mental wellbeing of young and future GPs by their level of training. DESIGN & SETTING: A cross-sectional anonymous survey of members of the Swiss Young General Practitioners Association (JHaS) was undertaken. METHOD: Basic characteristics and the current mental wellbeing were assessed using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS). Specific stressors that can influence wellbeing were focused on. Participants were asked for ideas on how to improve wellbeing via open questions. RESULTS: Response rate was 57% (n = 503). Mean value for mental wellbeing (WEMWBS) was 52.4 (maximum 70, standard deviation [SD] 7.2). Residents had a significantly lower level of mental health (51.0, SD 7.6) compared with GPs (54.2, SD 6.2). Overall, stress level was reported as high or very high by almost half of participants (49%). Forty-five per cent indicated a lack of private time; the highest proportion was among residents. Fifteen per cent (20% among residents) were at risk of burnout. Most frequent stressors were administrative tasks, high workload, and work demands. Support requests included improvement of work-life balance and reduction of administrative workload. CONCLUSION: Residents had the lowest mental wellbeing, at a stress level similarly high to that of GPs. They most often indicated not having enough time for a private life and were most at risk of burnout. Improvement suggestions should be implemented to maintain mental health of young and future GPs. Particular attention should be paid to GPs in training, as owing to their reduced mental health, they may benefit most.

Association between insurance status, anticoagulation quality, and clinical outcomes in patients with acute venous thromboembolism.

INTRODUCTION: A higher level of health insurance coverage may be related to better quality of care and outcomes. Whether insurance status is associated with anticoagulation quality and clinical outcomes in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) is unknown. METHODS: We studied 819 elderly patients treated with vitamin K antagonists for VTE in a Swiss prospective multicenter cohort (09/2009-12/2013). The study outcomes were the anticoagulation quality, defined as the time spent in the therapeutic INR range, and clinical events, i.e. the time to a first VTE recurrence, major bleeding, and mortality. We assessed the association between insurance status (private vs. general), anticoagulation quality, and clinical outcomes using regression models, adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS: Although the unadjusted mean percentage of time spent in the therapeutic INR range (2.0-3.0) was slightly higher in patients with private vs. general insurance (65% vs. 61%; p = 0.030), the adjusted difference was not statistically significant (1.53%, 95% CI -1.97 to 5.04). Patients with private insurance had a lower 36-month cumulative incidence of major bleeding (9.7% vs. 15.7%; p = 0.018). After adjustment, privately insured patients had a lower risk of major bleeding compared to patients with general insurance (sub-hazard ratio 0.57, 95% CI 0.32 to 0.98). Insurance status was not associated with recurrent VTE or mortality. CONCLUSION: Privately insured patients spent somewhat more time in therapeutic INR range and had a lower rate of major bleeding than generally insured patients. Basic (general) health insurance may be a marker of lower anticoagulation quality and higher risk of major bleeding.