Table 4.

Surgical team considerations for pediatric surgical emergency scenarios with regard to the size and volume of affiliated hospitals

Items (Question & answer)	≤ 500 in-hospital beds n = 36 (27.1%)		> 500 in-hospital beds n = 97 (72.9%)		p value
	(n)	n.a	(n)	n.a
Who performs trauma surgery?
Scenario 1: car accident, free abdominal fluid in a 8 year old child?		1		0	p = 0.0004
Emergency surgeon	10ø		23ø
General surgeon	15		13
Pediatric surgeon	5		46
General OR pediatric surgeon	5		15
Scenario 2: car accident, free abdominal fluid in a 4 year old child?		3		1	p = 0.0002
Emergency surgeon	9ø		21ø
General surgeon	14		10
Pediatric surgeon	8		50
General OR pediatric surgeon	2		15
Who performs emergency surgery?
Scenario 3: acute appendicitis in a 8 year old child?		5		5	p = 0.0025
Emergency surgeon	5ø		10ø
General surgeon	15		17
Pediatric surgeon	7		53
General OR pediatric surgeon	4		12
Scenario 4: acute appendicitis in a 4 year old child?		2		2	p = 0.0046
Emergency surgeon	5ø		8ø
General surgeon	14		14
Pediatric surgeon	13		62
General OR pediatric surgeon	2		11

n.a. = no answer. Ø no difference (p > 0.05) by patient age (1–5 years versus 5–10 years of age)