What influences emergency general surgeons' treatment preferences for patients requiring nutritional support? A discrete choice experiment.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Identifying and managing malnourished emergency general surgery (EGS) patients can be difficult. There are many tools available, a range of barriers to overcome and variety of guidelines at a surgeon's disposal. This study aimed to determine the impact of key variables on surgeon preference to start nutritional support in EGS.

Methods

A discrete choice experiment was used to determine the impact of six variables on surgeons' treatment preferences for commencing nutritional support in EGS. Twenty-five hypothetical scenarios regarding a patient with adhesional small bowel obstruction were disseminated electronically. Binomial logistic regression was used to identify significant associations. Ethical approval was obtained (UREC 050436).

Results

In all, 148 participan

SUBMITTER: Ashmore DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11997732 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature