General and visceral surgery practice in German hospitals: a real-time work analysis on surgeons' work flow.

Surgeons have criticized the working conditions at German hospitals. They complain in particular about long working hours, an inadequate salary for their work, insufficient training/supervision, and an increasing amount of time spent on administration duties. Since these critics are only subjective perceptions, they should be compared to data that can be quantified more objectively and accurately. In this study, we sought to report precise data on surgeons' workflow in several German hospitals.