Psychosocial outcomes following emergency laparotomy (POLO) study: a study protocol for a multicentre mixed-methods prospective cohort study assessing the psycho-social outcomes following emergency laparotomy in adults.

Introduction: Morbidity from an emergency laparotomy (EmLap) is difficult to define and poorly understood. Morbidity is a holistic concept, reliant upon an interplay of bio-psychosocial outcomes that evolve long after discharge. To date, no previous study has explored the psychosocial outcomes following EmLap as a collective, nor their change over time.