[Surgeons' experience of complication frequency--registration validity for legal abortion].

INTRODUCTION

The aim was to investigate the degree to which experience influenced the complication rate (cr) in legal abortion. We also compared our cr with that registered by the National Health Service for the same group of patients.

MATERIAL: 760 legal abortions from 1993 to 1994 were reviewed retrospectively.

RESULTS

We found an overall cr of 8.7% (95% confidence limit: 6.7-10.7). The cr was the same for all groups of doctors, from the youngest to the most senior and experienced surgeons. The experience in months of the younger surgeons was noted for each intervention, and we found that they did not improve their results over time or by practice. In the same study, we found that the National Health Service had received, registered, and published statistical data from the hospitals, which were not entirely accurate.

CONCLUSION

The complication rate was not associated with the experience of the surgeon.