Inter‐hospital variation in surgical intensity for trauma admissions: A multicentre cohort study

Background Guidelines for injury care are increasingly moving away from surgical management towards less invasive procedures but there is a knowledge gap on how these recommendations are influencing practice. We aimed to assess inter‐hospital variation in surgical intensity for injury admissions and evaluate the correlation between hospital surgical intensity and mortality/complications. Methods We included adults admitted for major trauma between 2006 and 2016 in a Canadian provincial trauma system. Analyses were stratified for orthopaedic (n = 16 887), neurological (n = 12 888) and torso injuries (n = 9816). Surgical intensity was quantified with the number of surgical procedures