MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH IN THORACIC SURGERY: A 10 - YEAR STUDY

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The multidisciplinary approach is extremely important in the thoracic surgery department, as it is in every medical department. The aim of this study was to reveal the place of the department of thoracic surgery in the multidisciplinary approach and its relations with other departments through consultation records. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Consultations requested from the other departments (inbound) and by the thoracic surgery department (outbound) in a period of 10 years (January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2022) were obtained from the hospital information management system and analyzed by descriptive statistical methods. RESULTS: In the 10-year period, the department that requested the most consultations from thoracic surgeons was the emergency department, with 2793 (38.78%) consultations. In this period, thoracic surgery mostly requested consultation from the anesthesiology and infectious diseases departments (n = 1638 (29.97%) and 1104 (17.42%), respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Thoracic surgery is a part of the trauma team and is also the department that treats surgical diseases of the lung. Therefore, thoracic surgery consultation is requested especially by emergency services and chest diseases departments. The thoracic surgery department is in close contact with the anesthesiology, pulmonology, and cardiology departments and frequently requests consultation from these departments, especially for preoperative evaluation. With COVID-19, infectious diseases were also added to this preoperative team.