Motivations Influencing the Surgeon’s Healthcare Unit Choice to Perform Surgery: A Confirmatory Study in Portugal

Abstract

Quality surgical practice is a fundamental subject in health institutions, and it is important to understand the structural and organizational conditions of the operating room (OR). The present exploratory study sought to understand the motivations that underlie the choice of surgeons for the best healthcare unit to perform surgery, as well as the characteristics of those professionals regarding age, years of work experience, and sex. A questionnaire survey was administered to a convenience sample of 99 surgeons, 67.3% male and 32.7% female, aged 37 to 66 (M = 23.7; Std = 8.92). The results show that at the top of the surgeons' motivations to perform surgery is the 77.8% attributed to the human resources and equipment available and at the other extreme the 3% to the previous online visit to facilities. This study opens important clues to the development of more in-depth and comparative approaches, necessary for the continuous improvement of the healthcare provided in the context of surgical practice.