gms | German Medical Science

68th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)
7th Joint Meeting with the British Neurosurgical Society (SBNS)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

14 - 17 May 2017, Magdeburg

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Are neurosurgeons too busy to do research?

Meeting Abstract

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  • Josephine Jung - King’s College Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, London, United Kingdom
  • Meriem Amarouche - King’s College Hospital, Neurosurgical Training Programme, London, United Kingdom
  • Gordan Grahovac - King’s College Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • Richard Selway - Spire Alexandra Hospital , Impton Lane, Kent, United Kingdom

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Society of British Neurological Surgeons. 68. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC), 7. Joint Meeting mit der Society of British Neurological Surgeons (SBNS). Magdeburg, 14.-17.05.2017. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2017. DocMi.24.04

doi: 10.3205/17dgnc530, urn:nbn:de:0183-17dgnc5304

Published: June 9, 2017

© 2017 Jung et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Objectives: Does a busy clinical environment preclude conducting research? We aim to answer this question by identifying whether the volume of clinical activity at UK neurosurgical units correlates with their academic production.

Methods: Reviewing 15 years of SBNS programmes, data on abstract acceptance was recorded on all UK neurosurgical units. Sample-based analysis was used to confirm proportion of abstracts turned into peer-reviewed publications. The clinical activity was determined using the 2015 Neurosurgical National Audit Programme report.

Results: On average, units submitted 2 abstracts per SBNS conference (range 0-6.5). Total number of abstracts accepted over 15 years ranged between 12 and 208 with the top 5 scoring units being Addenbrooke's hospital (n=208), NHNN (n=167), King's College hospital (n=133), the Walton Centre (n=127) and Leeds General Infirmary (n=94). 0 to 40% of abstracts were turned into publications with Hope Hospital Salford having the best conversion rate. The median number of procedures performed in 2015 was 7114.5 (range 3588-12318) with the top 5 hospitals being Hope Hospital Salford, the Walton Centre, NHNN, Addenbrooke's Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. Clinical activity correlated positively with SBNS abstract submission (Pearson test, p=0.0169) and abstracts publication (p=0.0242).

Conclusions: The availability of huge amounts of clinical material is the reason rather than the barrier to research publication. It therefore seems that we are never too busy to do research!