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Flow diagram describing participant recruitment. Of 97 patients who underwent emergency intra-abdominal surgery within the 4-week study period, 10 were immediately excluded as they were either dead or were still inpatients at the end of the data collection period. Attempts were made to contact the remaining 87 patients, resulting in 68 participants and 19 non-participants. The main reason for non-recruitment was inability to contact the patients by telephone
