Is there a difference in laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed in a teaching hospital or a general hospital in The Netherlands?

Introduction: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy may have a complicated course with severe complications such as bile duct injury. Studies in other countries than the Netherlands report ambivalent results regarding the influence of a residency program on patient safety, efficacy and financial consequences. This study aims to determine whether there is a difference between laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed in a teaching hospital or a non-teaching general hospital in Dutch clinics. Materials and methods: A prospective cohort study was performed to examine the safety of laparoscopic cholecystectomies in a teaching hospital with a residency program and a general hospital without surgical residents. All consecutive cholecystectomies in these two hospitals between September 2014 and March 2015 were included. Patient characteristics, operative procedure, level of experience, operation time, per- and postoperative complications, mortality, length of hospital stay, re-admittance and conversions to laparotomy were analyzed. Results: A total of 294 consecutive cholecystectomies were performed in both hospitals. Cholecystectomies performed in the teaching hospital took an average of 25 min longer to complete compared with a non-residency setting. Both the number of conversions and the number of re-admissions were not significantly different between both clinics. The residency program showed smaller peroperative liver lesions along with more postoperative complications, with most complications in patients that required a conversion. Discussion: Current practice where residents perform supervised cholecystectomies should not be discouraged. We believe that is safe and lead to an acceptable increase in operation time.