GENERAL SURGICAL PRACTICE PATTERNS IN NOVA-SCOTIA - THE ROLE OF THE GENERALIST GENERAL SURGEON

Objective. To determine the role of traditional ''generalist' general surgeons in Nova Scotia. Design: An anonymous mail survey. Setting: Th e Province of Nova Scotia. Participants: Sixty-two active general surg eons listed on the Nova Scotia Provincial Medical Board Registry. Inte rventions: A questionnaire to compare the practice patterns of communi ty surgeons, regional surgeons and tertiary care surgeons. Main Outcom e Measures: The availability of non-general-surgery subspecialty colle agues in the hospital setting, the extent of non-general-surgery subsp ecialty practices of the participating surgeons, the types of procedur es they commonly perform and the adequacy of their general surgery tra ining to meet their present practice requirements. Results: The questi onnaire response rate was 79%. Community surgeons had few non-general- surgery subspecialty colleagues, and the majority maintained broad ''g eneralist'' general surgical practices. Regional surgeons had more non -general-surgery subspecialty collegues, but many still had surgical p ractices that included the non-general-surgery subspecialties. Tertiar y surgeons had adequate non-general-surgery subspecialty colleagues an d maintained narrow general surgery practices. Conclusions: In Nova Sc otia, ''generalist'' general surgeons presently provide non-general-su rgery subspecialty services in both regional and community hospital se ttings.