24 HOUR ACCESS TO A CD-ROM SURGICAL DATABASE HAS EDUCATIONAL AND PATIENT-MANAGEMENT BENEFITS

This study determined whether 24 h access to current surgical literatu re via a personal computer CD-ROM was of relevance to the junior surge on managing acute surgical referrals. Over a 2 month period, a total o f 53 acute surgical referrals were assessed and initially managed by a single basic surgical trainee. The Medline database was searched usin g Silver Platter software for current surgical literature regarding ae tiology and management after the initial patient assessment. Of the 53 searches made (mean search time 7 min 22 s), 20 (38%) were judged to have produced information that increased basic surgical trainee knowle dge and a further 9 (17%) changed patient management. By contrast, 24 (45%) of searches did not reveal helpful information. The availability of a surgical database that provides the trainee with abstracts of th e current literature is valuable both for the educational development of the surgeon and improvement of patient care.