Table 2.
Variation in staffing across cardiac surgery units and provisions for mechanical circulatory support.
| Surgical staffing | Units reporting | Overalla | Variation across units | ||
| Median | IQR | Range | |||
| Consultants (n): | 16 | 142 | 7 | 6.5, 12 | 5, 17 |
| Substantive (n) | 16 | 140.6 | 7 | 6, 12.5 | 4, 17 |
| Locum (n) | 16 | 7.3 | 0.2 | 0, 1 | 0, 1 |
| Trainees (n): | 16 | 233.9 | 13.5 | 11.0, 17.5 | 5, 27 |
| NTN | 16 | 62 | 3.5 | 3, 5 | 1, 9 |
| Non-NTN | 16 | 99.3 | 6.5 | 4, 7 | 0, 14 |
| Core trainee | 16 | 41.6 | 2 | 1, 3.5 | 1, 7 |
| Foundation year | 16 | 34 | 2 | 0, 3 | 0, 9 |
| Surgical nurse practitioners (n) | 16 | 59.4 | 3 | 2, 4.5 | 1, 11.6 |
| Perfusionist staffing (n): | |||||
| Perfusionists | 14 | 141.5 | 8 | 7.9, 10.6 | 6, 23 |
| Fully qualified | 14 | 125.5 | 7 | 6.5, 9 | 5, 21 |
| Trainee | 14 | 16.9 | 1 | 1, 1.6 | 0, 2 |
| Permanent | 13 | 118.5 | 8 | 7, 10 | 4, 18 |
| Agency | 13 | 4.2 | 0 | 0, 1 | 0, 1.2 |
| Use of assist device (yes/no) | 16 | 62.5% | n/a | ||
| LVAD and RVAD (yes/no) | 15 | 53.3% | n/a | ||
| ECMO (yes/no) | 15 | 73.3% | n/a | ||
a The number reported is the average over the three years of the study.
ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; IQR, interquartile range; LVAD, left-ventricular assist device; NTN, national training number; RVAD, right-ventricular assist device.