Table 5.

Surgeon-reported and patient-reported outcomes of operations performed by surgeon/assistant teams

Surgical experience of main surgeon: ≤12 operations/year
	Assistant performing ≤ 6 POP operations/year as main surgeon	Assistant performing ≥ 24 POP operations/year as main surgeon	P value
Surgeon-reported outcomes
Perioperative bleeding (ml)
Mean	30.32	35.23
SD	33.45	14.92	0.494
n	576	22
N	643	26
Reoperation within 1 year
Yes	1.4%	0.0%
95% CI	(0.65–2.68)	N/A	0.544
n	643	26
N	643	26
Surgeon-reported complication (of any kind) within 1 year
Yes	15.1%	11.5%
95% CI	(12.4–18.1)	(2.4–30.2)	0.619
n	643	26
N	643	26
Organ damage (perforation: bladder, urethra, or intestine)
Yes	0%	0%
95% CI	N/A	N/A
n	643	26
N	643	26
Patient-reported outcomes
Number of days using painkillers at home after surgery
Mean	4.75	6.44
SD	6.87	10.79	0.344
n	455	16
N	643	26
Patient-reported complications within 8 weeks, with medical attention sought
Yes	21.6%	31.8%
95% CI	(18.3–25.2)	(13.9–54.9)	0.250
n	565	22
N	643	26
Complications needing hospitalization up to 8 weeks after surgery
Yes	2.7%	5.0%
95% CI	(1.5–4.5)	(0.1–24.9)	0.586
n	512	20
N	643	26
Satisfaction, 1 year after the surgery
Yes	72.1%	60.0%
95% CI	(67.7–76.1)	(63.1–80.9)	0.241
n	462	20
N	643	26
Patient-reported feeling of genital protrusion, 1 year after surgery
Yes	70.7%	56.5%
95% CI	(66.3–74.9)	(23.2–65.5)	0.146
n	458	23
N	643	26

Satisfaction and failure rates are taken from the 1-year questionnaire, covering operations from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2015

All outcomes are for otherwise healthy patients operated on by an inexperienced main surgeon (performing no more than 12 colporrhaphy operations per active year) and an assistant surgeon. Results are stratified by the assistant surgeon’s experience as the main surgeon