scholarly journals Are Canadian urology residency programs fulfilling the Royal College expectations?: A survey of graduated chief residents

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bassel G. Bachir ◽  
Armen G. Aprikian ◽  
Wassim Kassouf

Introduction: We assess outgoing Canadian urology chief residents’ well-being, their satisfaction with their surgical training, and their proficiency in surgical procedures throughout their residency program.Methods: In 2012 an anonymous survey was sent by email to all 29 graduated urology chief residents across Canada. The survey included a list of all urologic surgical procedures listed by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC). According to the A/B/C classification used to assess competence in these procedures (A most competent, C least competent), we asked chief residents to self-classify their competence with regards to each procedure and we compared the final results to the current RCPSC classification.Results: The overall response rate among chief residents surveyed was 97%. An overwhelming majority (96.4%) of residents agreed that the residency program has affected their overall well-being, as well as their relationships with their families and/or partners (67.8%). Overall, 85.7% agreed that research was an integral part of the residency program and 78.6% have enrolled in a fellowship program post-graduation. Respondents believed that they have received the least adequate training in robotic surgery (89.3%), followed by female urology (67.8%), andrology/sexual medicine/infertility (67.8%), and reconstructive urology (61.4%). Interestingly, in several of the 42 surgical procedures classified as category A by the RCPSC, a significant percentage of residents felt that their proficiency was not category A, including repair of urinary fistulae (82.1%), pediatric indirect hernia repair and meatal repair for glanular hypospadias (67.9%), open pyeloplasty (64.3%), anteriorpelvic exenteration (61.6%), open varicocelectomy (60.7%) and radical cystoprostatectomy (33.3%). Furthermore, all respondents (100%) believed they were deficient in at least 1 of the 42 category A procedures, while 53.6 % believed they were deficient in at least 10 of the 42 procedures.Conclusions: Most residents agree that their residency program has affected their overall well-being as well as their relationships with their families and/or partners. There is also a clear deficiency in what outgoing residents perceive they have achieved and what the RCPSC mandates. Future work should concentrate on addressing this discrepancy to assure that training and RCPSC expectations are better aligned.

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amandeep S. Taggar ◽  
Kevin Martell ◽  
Siraj Husain ◽  
Michael Peacock ◽  
Michael Sia ◽  
...  

Introduction: Residency experiences and teaching in oncology among urology residents are variable across Canada. We sought to identify how radiation and medical oncology concepts, as they pertain to genitourinary malignancies, are taught to urology residents.Methods: A total of 190 trainees enrolled in Canadian urology residency training programs were invited to participate in the study from January 2016 to June 2016. Participants completed an online questionnaire addressing the training they received.Results: The overall response rate was 32%. Twenty-three percent of respondents were in their fellowship year; 17%, 20%, 10%, 17%, and 12% were first-, second-, third-, fourth-, and fifth-year residents, respectively, with a median of four (range 1–9) respondents from each training program. Ninety-five percent of respondents had academic half-day (AHD) as part of their training that included radiotherapy (61%) and chemotherapy (51%) teaching. Most respondents indicated their main exposure to chemotherapy and radiation came from informal teaching in urology clinics. Twentynine percent and 41%, of participants had mandatory rotations in radiation and medical oncology, respectively. Only 6% of respondents used their voluntary elective time in these disciplines and most voluntary electives were of 1–2-week duration. Despite this, 90% of respondents preferred some mandatory radiation and medical oncology training.Conclusions: Most of the limited exposure that urology residents have to medical and radiation oncology is through AHD or informal urology clinics, despite a desire among current urology trainees to have clinical exposure in these areas. Moving forward, urology residency programs should consider integrating medical and radiation oncology rotations into the residency program curriculum.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000313482110249
Author(s):  
Steven Tohmasi ◽  
Ariana Naaseh ◽  
Sean Thompson ◽  
Brian R. Smith

Background Recent studies have revealed a high rate of burnout among general surgery (GS) residents. Efforts to design and implement interventions to mitigate fatigue in surgical trainees are critical. Our aim was to assess the educational and wellness impact of outpatient scribe utilization at an academic GS residency program. Methods Electronic surveys were sent to 38 GS residents and 15 faculties who used outpatient scribes for at least 12 months. Questions were scored on a 5-point Likert scale with answers of “Strongly agree” or “Agree” representing affirmative responses. Results Thirty residents and 14 faculty completed the survey, resulting in an 83% overall response rate. Twenty-eight (93%) residents and 12 (86%) faculty believed that scribes decrease the daily workload of trainees. Twenty-seven (90%) residents felt that scribes allow them more time to focus on patient care and improve the quality of their surgical education. Ninety-three percent of residents (n = 28) and faculty (n = 13) believed that scribes enhance resident well-being. Twenty-four (80%) residents reported that scribes help improve adherence to duty hour restrictions. Twenty-five (83%) residents believed that utilizing scribes is an effective fatigue mitigation strategy for surgical training programs. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate that the implementation of an outpatient scribe program at an academic GS residency program may enhance resident education and wellness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (02) ◽  
pp. e234-e238
Author(s):  
Isdin Oke ◽  
Steven D. Ness ◽  
Jean E. Ramsey ◽  
Nicole H. Siegel ◽  
Crandall E. Peeler

Abstract Introduction Residency programs receive an institutional keyword report following the annual Ophthalmic Knowledge Assessment Program (OKAP) examination containing the raw number of incorrectly answered questions. Programs would benefit from a method to compare relative performance between subspecialty sections. We propose a technique of normalizing the keyword report to determine relative subspecialty strengths and weaknesses in trainee performance. Methods We retrospectively reviewed our institutional keyword reports from 2017 to 2019. We normalized the percentage of correctly answered questions for each postgraduate year (PGY) level by dividing the percent of correctly answered questions for each subspecialty by the percent correct across all subsections for that PGY level. We repeated this calculation for each PGY level in each subsection for each calendar year of analysis. Results There was a statistically significant difference in mean performance between the subspecialty sections (p = 0.038). We found above average performance in the Uveitis and Ocular Inflammation section (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02–1.18) and high variability of performance in the Clinical Optics section (95% CI: 0.76–1.34). Discussion The OKAP institutional keyword reports are extremely valuable for residency program self-evaluation. Performance normalized for PGY level and test year can reveal insightful trends into the relative strengths and weaknesses of trainee knowledge and guide data-driven curriculum improvement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (01) ◽  
pp. e88-e94
Author(s):  
Alyssa M. Kretz ◽  
Jennifer E. deSante-Bertkau ◽  
Michael V. Boland ◽  
Xinxing Guo ◽  
Megan E. Collins

Abstract Background While ethics and professionalism are important components of graduate medical education, there is limited data about how ethics and professionalism curricula are taught or assessed in ophthalmology residency programs. Objective This study aimed to determine how U.S. ophthalmology residency programs teach and assess ethics and professionalism and explore trainee preparedness in these areas. Methods Directors from accredited U.S. ophthalmology residency programs completed an online survey about components of programs' ethics and professionalism teaching curricula, strategies for assessing competence, and trainee preparedness in these areas. Results Directors from 55 of 116 programs (46%) responded. The most common ethics and professionalism topics taught were informed consent (38/49, 78%) and risk management and litigation (38/49, 78%), respectively; most programs assessed trainee competence via 360-degree global evaluation (36/48, 75%). While most (46/48, 95%) respondents reported that their trainees were well or very well prepared at the time of graduation, 15 of 48 (31%) had prohibited a trainee from graduating or required remediation prior to graduation due to unethical or unprofessional conduct. Nearly every program (37/48, 98%) thought that it was very important to dedicate curricular time to teaching ethics and professionalism. Overall, 16 of 48 respondents (33%) felt that the time spent teaching these topics was too little. Conclusion Ophthalmology residency program directors recognized the importance of an ethics and professionalism curriculum. However, there was marked variation in teaching and assessment methods. Additional work is necessary to identify optimal strategies for teaching and assessing competence in these areas. In addition, a substantial number of trainees were prohibited from graduating or required remediation due to ethics and professionalism issues, suggesting an impact of unethical and unprofessional behavior on resident attrition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Facundo N. Diaz ◽  
Marina Ulla

Abstract Background Diagnostic radiology residency programs pursuits as main objectives of the development of diagnostic capabilities and written communication skills to answer clinicians’ questions of referring clinicians. There has been also an increasing focus on competencies, rather than just education inputs. Then, to show ongoing professional development is necessary for a system to assess and document resident’s competence in these areas. Therefore, we propose the implementation of an informatics tool to objectively assess resident’s progress in developing diagnostics and reporting skills. We expect to found decreased preliminary report-final report variability within the course of each year of the residency program. Results We analyzed 12,162 evaluations from 32 residents (8 residents per year in a 4-year residency program) in a 7-month period. 73.96% of these evaluations belong to 2nd-year residents. We chose two indicators to study the evolution of evaluations: the total of discrepancies over the total of preliminary reports (excluding score 0) and the total of likely to be clinically significant discrepancies (scores 2b, 3b, and 4b) over the total of preliminary reports (excluding score 0). With the analysis of these two indicators over the evaluations of 2nd-year residents, we found a slight decrease in the value of the first indicator and relative stable behavior of the second one. Conclusions This tool is useful for objective assessment of reporting skill of radiology residents. It can provide an opportunity for continuing medical education with case-based learning from those cases with clinically significant discrepancies between the preliminary and the final report.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 414-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan H Boyd ◽  
Raul M Cruz

Abstract Background The objective of this study was to determine the extent of interest in international electives among prospective otolaryngology residents and to determine whether the availability of international electives affected students' interest in ranking a particular residency program. Methods A 3-part survey was given to all medical students enrolled in the 2008 otolaryngology match via the Electronic Residency Application Service. Part 1 elicited demographic information. Part 2 explored general interest in international rotations. Part 3 involved ranking several factors affecting students' choice of residency programs. This survey was developed at our institution, with no formal validation. Participation was anonymous and voluntary. Results A total of 307 students entered the otolaryngology match, and 55 surveys (18%) were completed. Twenty-five of 55 students (55%) had completed an international elective during or prior to medical school, and 51 of 55 respondents (93%) had a “strong” or “very strong” desire to participate in an international elective during residency; 48 of 55 students (87%) had a “strong” or “very strong” desire to participate in international surgical missions after residency. Future practice goals had no correlation with interest in international rotations, either during or after residency training. Respondents ranked 8 factors that had an impact on residency program selection in the following order of importance: operative experience, location, lifestyle, research opportunities, didactics, international electives, prestige of program, and salary. Conclusion Interest in international medicine among prospective otolaryngologists was high in this subset of respondents but did not appear to affect residency program selection.


Author(s):  
Jin-Hwa Lee ◽  
In-Ok Sim

The aim of this study to discover the relationship between psychological well-being, emotional intelligence, willpower, and job-efficacy. The data were collected from 26 May to 30 May 2020 by distributing a questionnaire to 317 clinical nurses with six months of experience in a general hospital located in Seoul. Three hundred copies were collected and used for final data analysis. The results of the study verified that the direct factors of psychological well-being, emotional intelligence, and willpower affect the job-efficacy of clinical nurses and confirmed that emotional intelligence is a mediating factor between psychological well-being and job-efficacy. This study is meaningful in that it proves the necessity of establishing various curriculums focusing on these factors so that nursing students can best perform their duties as professional nurses. In particular, it is suggested that an educational program and curriculum be established that can strengthen the psychological well-being and enhance the emotional intelligence of nursing students. It is expected that such training will equip professional clinical nurses to effectively handle future work in their stress-filled field.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000313482199475
Author(s):  
Brett M. Chapman ◽  
George M. Fuhrman

The Covid-19 pandemic has provided challenges for surgical residency programs demanding fluid decision making focused on providing care for our patients, maintaining an educational environment, and protecting the well-being of our residents. This brief report summarizes the impact of the impact on our residency programs clinical care and education. We have identified opportunities to improve our program using videoconferencing, managing recruitment, and maintaining a satisfactory caseload to ensure the highest possible quality of surgical education.


Author(s):  
Ryan Mortman ◽  
Harold A. Frazier ◽  
Yolanda C. Haywood

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 251584142110408
Author(s):  
Shruti Muralidharan ◽  
Parul Ichhpujani ◽  
Shibal Bhartiya ◽  
Rohan Bir Singh

Although the healing effect of music has been recognized since time immemorial, there has been a renewed interest in its use in modern medicine. This can be attributed to the increasing focus on holistic healing and on the subjective and objective aspects of well-being. In ophthalmology, this has ranged from using music for patients undergoing diagnostic procedures and surgery, as well as for doctors and the operation theatre staff during surgical procedures. Music has proven to be a potent nonpharmacological sedative and anxiolytic, allaying both the pain and stress of surgery. This review aims to explore the available evidence about the role of music as an adjunct for diagnostic and surgical procedures in current ophthalmic practices.


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