Trends in General Surgery Operative Experience Obtained by Integrated Vascular Surgery Residents

ABSTRACT Background Increasing diversity in medicine is receiving more attention yet underrepresented in medicine (UiM) surgeons remain a small fraction of all surgeons. Whether surgical training programs attempt to attract UiM applicants to their programs, and therefore their specialties, through program website information is unclear. Objective To analyze the scope of diversity and inclusion (D&I) related information on US allopathic and osteopathic general surgery, integrated thoracic surgery, and integrated vascular surgery residency program websites. Methods Residency programs were identified through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) in July 2020. We searched surgical program websites and collected data on the presence or absence of variables labeled “diversity & inclusion” or “underrepresented in medicine.” Variables found on program websites as well as sites linked to the program website were included. We excluded programs identified in ERAS as fellowship training programs. Programs without webpages were also excluded. Results We identified 425 residency programs and excluded 22 from data analysis. Only 75 of the 403 included programs (18.6%) contained D&I-related information. The presence of individual variables was also low, ranging from 4.5% for opportunities related to early exposure to the specialty to 11.1% for a written or video statement of commitment to D&I. Conclusions In 2020, as recruitment and interviews moved entirely online, few US allopathic and osteopathic general surgery, integrated thoracic surgery, and integrated vascular surgery residency programs provided D&I-related information for residency applicants on their program websites.

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The Effects of the Addition of a Pediatric Surgery Fellow on the Operative Experience of the General Surgery Resident

The American Surgeon ◽

10.1177/000313481508100626 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 81 (6) ◽

pp. 610-613

Author(s):

Alexander Raines ◽

Tabitha Garwe ◽

Ademola Adeseye ◽

Alejandro Ruiz-Elizalde ◽

Warren Churchill ◽

...

Keyword(s):

General Surgery ◽

Pediatric Surgery ◽

Resident Education ◽

Single Institution ◽

Residency Programs ◽

Relative Value ◽

General Surgery Resident ◽

Operative Experience ◽

Surgery Resident

Adding fellows to surgical departments with residency programs can affect resident education. Our specific aim was to evaluate the effect of adding a pediatric surgery (PS) fellow on the number of index PS cases logged by the general surgery (GS) residents. At a single institution with both PS and GS programs, we examined the number of logged cases for the fellows and residents over 10 years [5 years before (Time 1) and 5 years after (Time 2) the addition of a PS fellow]. Additionally, the procedure related relative value units (RVUs) recorded by the faculty were evaluated. The fellows averaged 752 and 703 cases during Times 1 and 2, respectively, decreasing by 49 ( P = 0.2303). The residents averaged 172 and 161 cases annually during Time 1 and Time 2, respectively, decreasing by 11 ( P = 0.7340). The total number of procedure related RVUs was 4627 and 6000 during Times 1 and 2, respectively. The number of cases logged by the PS fellows and GS residents decreased after the addition of a PS fellow; however, the decrease was not significant. Programs can reasonably add an additional PS fellow, but care should be taken especially in programs that are otherwise static in size.

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Operative Experience in the Era of Duty Hour Restrictions: Is Broad-Based General Surgery Training Coming to an End?

The American Surgeon ◽

10.1177/000313481007600619 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 76 (6) ◽

pp. 578-582 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Lindsay M. Fairfax ◽

A. Britton Christmas ◽

John M. Green ◽

William S. Miles ◽

Ronald F. Sing

Keyword(s):

General Surgery ◽

Alimentary Tract ◽

Gynecologic Surgery ◽

Case Volume ◽

Surgery Training ◽

Resident Work ◽

The Mean ◽

Operative Experience ◽

The Impact ◽

General Surgery Training

Since the institution of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) resident work hour restrictions, conflicting evidence exists regarding the impact on resident case volume with most data from single-institution studies. We examined the effect of restrictions on national resident operative experience. After permission from the ACGME, we reviewed the publicly available national resident case log data (1999 through 2008) maintained on the ACGME web site ( www.acgme.org ), including total major cases with subanalysis of the ACGME-specified categories. The mean cases per resident were compared before (1999 to 2003) and after (2003 to 2008) restrictions. After the implementation of duty hour restrictions, the mean number of total cases per resident significantly decreased (949 ± 18 vs 911 ± 14, P = 0.004). Subanalysis showed a significant increase in alimentary tract (217 ± 7 vs 229 ± 3, P = 0.004), skin/soft tissue (31 ± 3 vs 36 ± 1, P = 0.01), and endocrine (26 ± 2 vs 31 ± 2, P = 0.006) cases. However, we observed a significant decrease in head and neck (21 ± 0.3 vs 20 ± 0.3, P = 0.01), vascular (164 ± 29 vs 126 ± 5, P = 0.01), pediatric (41 ± 1 vs 37 ± 2, P = 0.006), genitourinary (10 ± 2 vs 7 ± 1, P = 0.004), gynecologic surgery (5 ± 1 vs 3 ± 0.6, P = 0.002), plastics (16 ± 0.3 vs 15 ± 0.7, P = 0.03), and endoscopy (91 ± 3 vs 82 ± 2, P < 0.001) procedures. Analysis of the ACGME-compiled national data confirms that duty hour restrictions have significantly impacted resident operative experience. Importantly, experience in specialty areas, including vascular and endoscopy, appears to have been sacrificed for consolidation of resources into general surgery services as indicated by the increase in alimentary tract and endocrine cases. These findings raise the following question: Is the era of truly broad-based general surgery training coming to an end?

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