SurgicalPerformance

A new study published last week in JAMA Surgery makes an uncomfortable but important point: how regularly you sleep may matter as much as how much you sleep.

Researchers tracked 38 surgeons across 4 university hospitals for a year, using continuous actigraphy to measure social jet lag, the gap between sleep timing on workdays and free days. Across 7,117 operations, patients treated by surgeons with social jet lag of 2 hours or more had a significantly higher risk of major adverse events. This held independent of how many hours the surgeon actually slept.

Surgeons experiencing burnout also showed significantly greater sleep timing irregularity than those without it.

There is a cycle worth paying attention to here. Complications and stress take a toll on surgeons, and that toll often shows up in disrupted sleep.

This research suggests the relationship can run both ways: irregular sleep may also increase the risk of the complications that cause the stress in the first place. It is a difficult pattern to see clearly from the inside, particularly when you are relying on memory and instinct rather than structured data.

Tracking your own outcomes over time will not fix a sleep schedule. But it gives you something concrete to work with: a clear, honest record of how your practice is actually performing, so changes in your results do not go unnoticed.

General surgeons now have colorectal surgery feedback on SurgicalPerformance.

The Colorectal module is now live, bringing outcomes tracking to one of the highest-volume surgical specialties. Case data, complications, procedure details, and longitudinal outcomes, captured in one confidential dashboard, built around how colorectal surgeons actually work.

If you are a general or colorectal surgeon, or work alongside one, log in and start capturing your cases.

Not yet on the platform? A free 10-case trial gives you full access to get started.

Before 30 June: one thing worth adding to your list.

If you run a private surgical practice, your SurgicalPerformance annual subscription is a deductible business expense. Claim it this financial year and start the next one with full visibility over your outcomes, your benchmarks, and your patients' recovery.

It takes minutes to set up. The 10-case free trial gives you full access to INSIGHTS and PROMS before you commit to anything.

If you have been meaning to get your data in order, EOFY is a sensible moment to start.