Surgical critical care: Is work-life expectancy increasing? An analysis of American Board of Surgery recertification rates across subspecialties.

The practice of surgical critical care (SCC) has traditionally necessitated additional in-house, extended night and weekend clinical commitments, which can be viewed as less desirable for many surgeons. Therefore, the authors have observed that some SCC surgeons elect to transition their practice to focus solely on general surgery (GS) rather than continuing practicing both SCC and GS. We hypothesized that surgeons with a practice focused on SCC are more likely to make the transition to a GS practice than those who have certification in other subspecialties that are certified through the American Board of Surgery.

Walking blood bank: a plan to ensure self-sufficiency in an era of blood shortage.

Mass casualty incidents and massive transfusion requirements continue to plague the USA with hemorrhage remaining the number one cause of death in trauma. The unfortunate reality of numerous mass shootings in Southwest Texas has led to the need for a way in which to provide blood during these events as rapidly as it is required. Multiple agencies within the Southwest Texas system have united to help provide this life-saving blood to people when they need it most.

TITAN CSR: a new self-retaining retractor for abdominal surgery.

Background: Self-retaining retractors provide hands-free exposure and allow surgeons to use their hands to perform surgery rather than manually retract tissues. Non-table-mounted retractors offer rapid assembly, but they have been traditionally limited in their ability to provide adequate exposure of the abdomen. Table-mounted retractors provide excellent exposure, but their cumbersome and time-intensive assembly often precludes their use in emergency settings.