[Eight days of hand emergencies. Report of the audit carried out at the FESUM centers from June 3 to June 9, 2002].
All the FESUM centers in France, Belgium and Switzerland were invited to participate in this prospective audit, during 1 week in June 2002. In these FESUM centers, the patients are operated by senior hand surgeons or trainees graduated with a microsurgical and a hand surgery University degrees. All acute hand disorders, requiring surgery or not, were to be included. For every case, a standardized form was to be filled. This form included 22 fields concerning the specificities of the patient, the circumstances of the accident, the lesions and initial treatment up to exit of the patient out of the Hand Center. Out of the 43 French centers, 38 (90%) participated in this study, but only 30% in the other French speaking countries. A total of 2360 forms were completed and analyzed, representing a mean of 8 forms per day center (6-147). The population was predominantly active men with a mean age of 31. Manual workers represented 41%, scholars 33%. Most of them came to the Hand Center with a non-specilized vehicle (86%). Emergency medical transportation was required in 130 cases (5.8%). A majority of the patients were treated on an outdoor basis. A 1-day admission concerned 29% of the patients, and 4.6% have been admitted on an indoor basis during several days. Work accident represented 28% of all the cases, while the majority was daily living (62%) or sport (15%) accidents. Closed trauma represented 50% of the cases. Amongst open trauma (974 cases), 862 were simple skin lacerations, 156 skin loss, 140 extensor tendon lacerations, 70 flexor tendon lacerations. A preliminary wound exploration had been performed in a non-specialized center in 124 cases (12%). Complete amputation of some part was observed in 33 cases. In 32%, the initial severity of the lesion led to expect some degree of definitive consequences. Some kind of anesthesia was required in 43% of the cases (local in 41%, troncular in 19%, plexical in 28% and general in 9%). A surgical procedure was performed in 45% of the patients. Microsurgery was necessary in 15%, six of which were replantations. The period between presentation to the Hand Center and treatment was less than 1 day in 95% of the cases. Time of treatment was considered to be delayed in 113 cases (5%). Following this audit, it is considered that the FESUM centers make provision for the care of 120,000 cases per year, 54,000 of which needing a surgical procedure. This may be a small part of the total load of emergency hand surgery throughout the country (generally estimated over 1.4 million), but compares quite favorably with other European studies. We believe that improvement relies essentially on a better orientation of the patients whether they need a simple skill or specialist skill treatment. An information leaflet about orientation of hand trauma has been distributed to non-specialized emergency centers. Hand surgery training must be reevaluated inside the universitary system to avoid a dramatic lack of hand surgeons within a few years. A new audit will be presented next year.