Patient Surgical Outcomes When Surgery Residents Are the Primary Surgeon by Intensity of Surgical Attending Supervision in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers

Objective

Using health records from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the largest healthcare training platform in the United States, we estimated independent associations between the intensity of attending supervision of surgical residents and 30-day postoperation patient outcomes.

Background

Academic leaders do not agree on the level of autonomy from supervision to grant surgery residents to best prepare them to enter independent practice without risking patient outcomes.

Methods

Secondary data came from a national, systematic 1:8 sample of n = 862,425 teaching encounters where residents were listed as primary surgeon at 122 VA medical centers from July 1, 2004, through September 30, 2019. Independent associations between whether attendings had scrubbed or not scrubbed on patient 30-day all-cause mortality, complications, and 30-day readmission were estimated using generalized linear-mixed models. Estimates were tested for any residual confounding biases, robustness to different regression models, stability over time, and validated using moderator and secondary factors analyses.

Results

After accounting for potential confounding factors, residents supervised by scrubbed attendings in 733,997 nonemergency surgery encounters had fewer deaths within 30 days of the operation by 14.2% [0.3%, 29.9%], fewer case complications by 7.9% [2.0%, 14.0%], and fewer readmissions by 17.5% [11.2%, 24.2%] than had attendings not scrubbed. Over the 15 study years, scrubbed surgery attendings may have averted an estimated 13,700 deaths, 43,600 cases with complications, and 73,800 readmissions.

Conclusions

VA policies on attending surgeon supervision have protected patient safety while allowing residents in selected teaching encounters to have limited autonomy from supervision.

Empowering the Resident Learner

Surgical resident autonomy is an essential element of the transition from supervised training to independent practice. However, in an age of duty hour restrictions, legislative constraints, increased litigation, and heightened societal expectations, training an autonomous resident proves increasingly difficult. To tackle these barriers to training successful surgeons, the American College of Surgeons Committee on Resident Education initiated the Resident Mentored Autonomy Project. As a subdivision of this project, the Empowered Learner research team here presents a framework for training the self-directed and empowered surgical resident learner. There are many strategies by which surgical faculty, program directors and chairs, and residents themselves may engage to improve resident operative autonomy.

Teaching assistant cases in general surgery training - A literature review

BACKGROUND

There is a lack of understanding of the scope and purpose of teaching assistant cases, impact on patients and safety, as well as the facilitators or barriers to resident participation in these cases.

METHODS

Four databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Education Resources Information Center), were searched. The references of identified resources were additionally hand-searched. 10 articles were identified and considered in the literature review.

RESULTS

The TA case literature focuses on case numbers and safety. The discussions of papers allude to perceived benefits of TA cases. The literature review reveals that residents are more likely to be granted TA opportunities if they show themselves worthy of entrustment.

CONCLUSIONS

The work elucidates aspects of TA cases that have not previously been emphasized or highlighted. The literature review can serve to inform attending surgeons and trainees how to optimize the opportunities teaching assistant cases can afford.

Resident self-assessment of common endocrine procedures

BACKGROUND

General surgery residency graduates are expected to be proficient in straightforward endocrine operations. This study aimed to elucidate residents' self-assessment of their ability to perform common endocrine procedures.

METHODS

A fourteen-question survey was emailed to general surgery residents from seven U.S. residency programs regarding their self-assessed ability to perform each step of a straightforward thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy. Demographics and perceived ability to perform the various procedures were collected.

RESULTS

A minority of respondents (17, 27.9%) agreed they could complete a straightforward thyroidectomy for benign disease, with only 11.7% (n = 7) agreeing they could complete a straightforward thyroidectomy for malignant disease. 26.2% (n = 16) of respondents agreed they could complete a straightforward parathyroidectomy. Completed number of cases was significantly associated with greater self-assessed ability to perform the endocrine operations (p = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

Most general surgery residents surveyed did not feel capable of performing common, straightforward endocrine procedures. Although confidence in operative ability increased with PGY-level and number of cases completed, the majority of PGY-5 residents still did not feel able to perform a thyroidectomy for malignant disease unassisted.

Operative Self-Confidence, Hesitation, and Ability Assessment of Surgical Trainees in Rural Kenya

BACKGROUND

The education of surgical trainees is ideally designed to produce surgeons with both confidence and competence. This involves the development of autonomy in the operating room. Factors associated with autonomy and entrustment have been studied in high-resource settings. In a resource-limited context, where autonomy is solely at the discretion of faculty, and there are fewer external constraints to restrict it, we hypothesized that assessment of a trainee's performance would be dependent upon reported confidence levels of both faculty and trainees in those trainees' abilities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

At a teaching hospital in rural Kenya, operative experience surveys were administered to eleven general surgery trainees (PGY1-5) and six faculty paired dyads immediately following operative procedures in May 2016 to elicit self-reported assessments of confidence, hesitation, and ability as measured by the Zwisch Scale. We examined factors related to learning and used dyadic structural equation models to understand factors related to the assessment of ability.

RESULTS

There were 107 paired surveys among 136 trainees and 130 faculty evaluations. Faculty scrubbed into 76 (72%) cases. In comparison to trainees, faculty were more likely to give a higher average score for confidence (4.08 versus 3.90; P value: 0.005), a lower score for hesitation (2.67 versus 2.84; P value: 0.001), and a lower score for the ability to perform the operation independently (2.73 versus 3.02; P value: 0.01). Faculty and trainee perceptions of hesitation influenced their ability scores. Trainee hesitation (OR 12.1; 1.2-127.6, P = 0.04) predicted whether trainees reported experiencing learning.

CONCLUSIONS

Between trainees and faculty at a teaching program in rural Kenya, assessment scores of confidence, hesitation, and ability differ in value but remain fairly correlated. Hesitation is predictive of ability assessment, as well as self-reported learning opportunities. Focus upon identifying when trainees hesitate to proceed with a case may yield important educational opportunities.

Do End-of-Rotation Evaluations Adequately Assess Readiness to Operate?

PURPOSE

Medical educators have developed no standard way to assess the operative performance of surgical residents. Most residency programs use end-of-rotation (EOR) evaluations for this purpose. Recently, some programs have implemented workplace-based "microassessment" tools that faculty use to immediately rate observed operative performance. The authors sought to determine (1) the degree to which EOR evaluations correspond to workplace-based microassessments and (2) which factors most influence EOR evaluations and directly observed workplace-based performance ratings and how the influence of those factors differs for each assessment method.

METHOD

In 2017, the authors retrospectively analyzed EOR evaluations and immediate postoperative assessment ratings of surgical trainees from a university-based training program from the 2015-2016 academic year. A Bayesian multivariate mixed model was constructed to predict operative performance ratings for each type of assessment.

RESULTS

Ratings of operative performance from EOR evaluations vs workplace-based microassessment ratings had a Pearson correlation of 0.55. Postgraduate year (PGY) of training was the most important predictor of operative performance ratings on EOR evaluations: Model estimates ranged from 0.62 to 1.75 and increased with PGY. For workplace-based assessment, operative autonomy rating was the most important predictor of operative performance (coefficient = 0.74).

CONCLUSIONS

EOR evaluations are perhaps most useful in assessing the ability of a resident to become a surgeon compared with other trainees in the same PGY of training. Workplace-based microassessments may be better for assessing a trainee's ability to perform specific procedures autonomously, thus perhaps providing more insight into a trainee's true readiness for operative independence.

Obtaining Meaningful Assessment in Thoracic Surgery Education

Training in thoracic surgery has evolved immensely over the past decade due to the advent of integrated programs, technological innovations, and regulations on resident duty hours, decreasing the time trainees have to learn. These changes have made assessment of thoracic surgical trainees even more important. Shifts in medical education have increasingly emphasized competency, which has led to novel competency-based assessment tools for clinical and operative assessment. These novel tools take advantage of simulation and modern technology to provide more frequent and comprehensive assessment of the surgical trainee to ensure competence.

Challenges to Orthopaedic Resident Education

Orthopaedic resident educators confront many important issues. This may be the most challenging time yet for orthopaedic education. A survey of program directors and chairs aimed to identify the major challenges in orthopaedic education. Many issues were identified, and the following four major themes emerged: (1) loss of professionalism, (2) too much emphasis on procedures, (3) lack of clinical experience, and (4) challenges with external oversight. Professionalism in taking care of patients may be compromised by work-hour limitations and affected by generational differences. Limitations to progressive, graduated responsibility include internal and external factors, resulting in a lack of opportunity. Overemphasis on case volume fosters a training environment where technical skill is seen as most important and can detract from teaching the basic principles of being a doctor, including shared decision making. This paper explores these major challenges to orthopaedic resident education in 2018. Substantial changes will be required to address these challenges, but better understanding of the issues they face should help educators identify, minimize, or ideally avoid threats to optimal resident education.

Can Residents Be Trained and Safety Maintained?

INTRODUCTION

Teaching hospitals and faculty need to balance the educational mission for training residents with patient safety. There are no data studying the change in trauma patient outcomes before and after implementation of a surgical residency. The objective of this study was to compare trauma center outcomes before and after the advent of a surgical training program. We predicted that patient-centric outcome metrics would not be affected by the integration of surgical residents into trauma patient care.

METHODS

A retrospective review was performed using the Crimson Continuum of Care (CCC) dataset and the Trauma Injury Severity Scores (TRISS) for the year before implementation of a surgical residency, compared to the 6 months following initiation of the residency. Severity and risk-adjusted performance measures included mortality, readmissions, complications, and length of stay. Using TRISS, actual, and predicted mortality was compared.

RESULTS

There were 1535 trauma admissions to the acute Care Trauma Service the year before starting the residency, and 856 admissions for the 6 months following the implementation of the program. The demographics were similar between the 2 groups. There was no clinically significant difference in observed mortality after the initiation of a surgery residency, based on CCC dataset variables and TRISS datasets. There were also no significant differences in complications and readmission rates.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that initiating a surgical training program did not affect mortality rates or complications of trauma patients. Training of general surgery residents in a high-performing trauma center can be effectively implemented without compromising patient safety.

Implementing a resident acute care surgery service: Improving resident education and patient care

BACKGROUND

To simulate the duties and responsibilities of an attending surgeon and allow senior residents more intraoperative and perioperative autonomy, our program created a new resident acute care surgery consult service.

METHODS

We structured resident acute care surgery as a new admitting and inpatient consult service managed by chief and senior residents with attending supervision. When appropriate, the chief resident served as a teaching assistant in the operation. Outcomes were recorded prospectively and reviewed at weekly quality improvement conferences. The following information was collected: (1) teaching assistant case logs for senior residents preimplentation (n = 10) and postimplementation (n = 5) of the resident acute care surgery service; (2) data on the proportion of each case performed independently by residents; (3) resident evaluations of the resident acute care surgery versus other general operative services; (4) consult time for the first 12 months of the service (June 2014 to June 2015).

RESULTS

During the first year after implementation, the number of total teaching assistant cases logged among graduating chief residents increased from a mean of 13.4 ± 13.0 (range 4-44) for preresident acute care surgery residents to 30.8 ± 8.8 (range 27-36) for postresident acute care surgery residents (P < .01). Of 323 operative cases, the residents performed an average of 82% of the case independently. There was a significant increase in the satisfaction with the variety of cases (mean 5.08 vs 4.52, P < .01 on a 6-point Likert scale) and complexity of cases (mean 5.35 vs 4.94, P < .01) on service evaluations of resident acute care surgery (n = 27) in comparison with other general operative services (n = 127). In addition, creation of a 1-team consult service resulted in a more streamlined consult process with average consult time of 22 minutes for operative consults and 25 minutes for nonoperative consults (range 5-90 minutes).

CONCLUSION

The implementation of a resident acute care surgery service has increased resident autonomy, teaching assistant cases, and satisfaction with operative case variety, as well as the efficiency of operative consultation at our institution.

An Objective Assessment of the Surgical Trainee in an Urban Trauma Unit in South Africa: A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND

Surgical outcomes are provider specific. This prospective audit describes the surgical activity of five general surgery residents on their trauma surgery rotation. It was hypothesized that the operating surgical trainee is an independent risk factor for adverse outcomes following major trauma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a prospective cohort study. All patients admitted, over a 6-month period (August 2014-January 2015), following trauma requiring a major operation performed by a surgical trainee at Groote Schuur Hospital's trauma unit in South Africa were included. Multiple logistic regression models were built to compare risk-adjusted surgical outcomes between trainees. The primary outcome measure was major in-hospital complications.

RESULTS

A total of 320 major operations involving 341 procedures were included. The mean age was 28.49 years (range 13-64), 97.2 % were male with a median ISS of 9 (IQR 1-41). Mechanism of injury was penetrating in 93.42 % of cases of which 51.86 % were gunshot injuries. Surgeon A consistently had the lowest risk-adjusted outcomes and was used as the reference for all outcomes in the regression models. Surgeon B, D, and E had statistically significant higher rates of major in-hospital complications than Surgeon A and C, after adjusting for multiple confounders. The final model used to calculate the risk estimates for the primary outcome had a ROC of 0.8649.

CONCLUSION

Risk-adjusted surgical outcomes vary by operating surgical trainee. The analysis thereof can add value to the objective assessment of a surgical trainee.