Table 1.

Surgeon participants grouped by their role in inter-hospital transfer

Surgeon characteristic	Refer N=3	Refer and Accept N=6	Accept (Tertiary) N=7
Years in practice, median (range)	12 (8 – 29)	9 (1 – 25)	4 (1 – 16)
Gender, N (%)
Male	2 (67)	5 (83)	5 (71)
Practice scope, N (%)
General surgery only	2 (67)	4 (67)	1 (14)
General surgery and trauma	0 (0)	0 (0)	6 (86)
General surgery and bariatric or vascular	1 (33)	2 (33)	0 (0)
Transfer frequency, median (range)
Refer/month	8 (<1 – 10)	<1 (<1 – 3)	0 (0 – 0)
Accept/month	<1 (0 – 3)*	3 (1 – 10)	4 (2 – 6)

^*One surgeon who worked at two community hospitals and one regional hospital is included in the “refer” category, given their primary role in referring transfers.