Risk Balancing of Cold Ischemic Time against Night Shift Surgery Possibly Reduces Rates of Reoperation and Perioperative Graft Loss

Figure 1

(a) Shown is the distribution of night- and daytime shifts over 24 hours at our institution. Regular working hours at our institution are 07:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Included are two hand-over periods of 30–45 minutes for each shift change (light blue sectors). Only in cases of high urgent emergencies (e.g., bowl perforations, intraabdominal bleeding, and polytrauma situations) would surgery be started within those intervals. If arrival of an upcoming kidney transplantation is scheduled after 6 AM, the transplantation is usually planned to start with the day shift team after 7:30 AM. (b) This circle with the increasing dyeing of the sectors symbolizes the increasing levels of exhaustion that can be caused by sleep deprivation and a continuous workload over the course of a 24-hour shift.

(a)

(b)