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Integrated Services & Care

Emergency Surgery and Trauma (ESAT) Service

Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) is a busy acute public hospital with close to 3,000 emergency general surgery and trauma admissions every year. KTPH has offered a dedicated acute surgical unit known as the Emergency Surgery and Trauma (ESAT) since 2014.

Emergency and trauma surgery is usually urgent in nature and performed on very sick patients. Compared with the conventional system, where all emergency surgeries are attended to by the surgeon on call in addition to his or her daily elective workload, ESAT has a dedicated team. This effectively allocates resources to provide prompt and timely care for patients. In 2018 and 2019, the ESAT team was featured at the NHG Team Recognition Awards (Bronze and Gold) respectively for its commitment to improving the emergency surgery and trauma care.

Our Services

Services performed

  • Consultant led team dedicated to emergency surgical and trauma patients
  • Rapid assessment of critically ill surgical patients in emergency department
  • Timely surgery for emergency surgical and trauma patients
  • Established collaboration with Intensive Care Unit and Interventional Radiology
  • Acute and elective endoscopy
  • Postoperative recovery and follow up clinics

Conditions treated

  • Acute abdominal pain
  • Acute appendicitis
  • Biliary colic/acute cholecystitis/cholangitis/pancreatitis
  • Upper and lower gastrointestinal tract bleeding
  • Gastroenteritis/Colitis
  • Intra-abdominal infections
  • Soft tissue infections
  • Bowel obstruction – benign and malignant
  • Multi-system trauma-related injuries
  • Penetrating traumatic injury

Integrated Emergency Laparotomy Multidisciplinary Team

Emergency major abdominal (laparotomy) surgery are commonly performed for patients with acute abdominal conditions. This surgery is potentially life-threatening procedure and patients that undergo these surgery have higher mortality of up to five times greater than high-risk elective surgery (gastrointestinal cancer surgery).

As a patient, when you are in the position of needing this kind of high-risk emergency surgery, you depend on multidisciplinary teams to work closely and effectively together to ensure that you are cared in the best possible manner. Therefore, the ESAT service has started a collaboration between the Emergency Department, General Surgery, Geriatric Medicine, Anaesthesia, nurses and allied health professional to implement a transdisciplinary care team.

This integrated team provides a hassle-free care for patients presenting with acute abdominal conditions requiring emergency major abdominal (laparotomy) surgery. More than 50% of patients are elderly with age above 65 years old and they recover better with early involvement by geriatric physician (specialist in elderly). The support and seamless care kickstarts when the patient enters the emergency department, and continues all the way to when they are discharge to the community hospital or to home.

Services performed

  • Major abdominal surgery
  • Geriatric assessment and management for patients above 65 years old
  • Intensive care for critically ill patients
  • Comprehensive physiotherapy and rehabilitation

Our Team

  • ED physicians
  • Geriatricians
  • General Surgery
  • Physiotherapists
  • Occupational therapists
  • Dieticians
  • Community care team
  • Care coordinator