Journal of surgical education
-
The following statement on surgical pre-residency preparatory courses has been approved by the American Board of Surgery, the American College of Surgeons, the Association of Program Directors in Surgery, and the Association for Surgical Education: The leadership of the surgical community is actively engaged in improving the preparation of incoming residents to assume responsibility and accountability for key elements of care and stewardship. To better prepare for this transition, it is essential that all matriculants to surgery residency successfully complete a preparatory course of blended learning that specifically addresses essential components of quality care and patient safety before the start of their training. ⋯ We strongly endorse this effort and encourage medical schools to adopt this or a similar program. We stand ready to assist medical schools and medical students in implementation of this important initiative.
-
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has offered minimal guidelines for the creation and implementation of clinical competency committees (CCCs). As surgical residency programs may differ greatly in terms of size and structure, requirements that are too specific throughout the process could place some programs at a great disadvantage. ⋯ With the implementation of CCCs and the milestones project, residency programs have an opportunity to improve the overall quality of decision making regarding residents' promotion to the next training level or independent practice. CCCs will undoubtedly be confronted with numerous challenges, as they implement the milestones project and are faced with the need to make multiple changes. Therefore, implementing milestones should be viewed as a goal to be accomplished over the long term.
-
To satisfy trainees' operative competency requirements while improving feedback validity and timeliness using a mobile Web-based platform. ⋯ In contrast to CERPs, the OPRS fully satisfies the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and American Board of Surgery operative assessment requirements. The mobile Web platform provides a convenient interface, broad accessibility, automatic data compilation, and compatibility with common database and statistical software. Our mobile OPRS system encourages candid feedback dialog and generates a comprehensive review of individual and group-wide operative proficiency in real time.
-
Multicenter Study
Are there gender differences in the emotional intelligence of resident physicians?
Because academic literature indicates that emotional intelligence (EI) is tied to work performance, job satisfaction, burnout, and client satisfaction, there is great interest in understanding physician EI. ⋯ Men and women residents across 3 specialties demonstrated near-identical global EI scores. However, gender differences in specific TEIQue facets suggest that similar to the general population, men and women residents may benefit from specific training of different EI domains to enhance well-rounded development. The lack of significant gender differences within surgery may indicate that surgery attracts individuals with particular EI profiles regardless of gender. Future research should focus on the functional relationship between educational interventions that promote targeted EI development and enhanced clinical performance.
-
The existing methods for evaluating resident operative performance interrupt the workflow of the attending physician, are resource intensive, and are often completed well after the end of the procedure in question. These limitations lead to low faculty compliance and potential significant recall bias. In this study, we deployed a smartphone-based system, the Procedural Autonomy and Supervisions System, to facilitate assessment of resident performance according to the Zwisch scale with minimal workflow disruption. We aimed to demonstrate that this is a reliable, valid, and feasible method of measuring resident operative autonomy. ⋯ The Zwisch scale can be used to make reliable and valid measurements of faculty guidance and resident autonomy. Our data also suggest that Zwisch ratings may be used to infer resident operative performance. Deployed on an automated smartphone-based system, it can be used to feasibly record evaluations for most operations performed by residents. This information can be used to council individual residents, modify programmatic curricula, and potentially inform national training guidelines.