Journal of surgical education
-
Comparative Study
General surgery residents' views on work hours regulations.
Since 2003, compliance with Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) work hours regulations has been required for United States residency training programs. Further work hours restrictions have been proposed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). This study examines General Surgery residents' views of current work hours restrictions and proposed changes by the IOM. ⋯ General surgery resident physicians in the US do not always record their work hours accurately and many have concerns about further work hour restrictions. The majority admitted underreporting work hours to care for a sick patient. Most US surgical residents feel further work hour restrictions would be detrimental to their training. Current work hours restrictions force surgery residents to underreport their work hours to perform the activities that they feel are necessary for their surgical training.
-
To examine the relationship between and predictive nature of United States Medical Licensing Examination(®) (USMLE) Step 1, Step 2, and American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) postgraduate year (PGY) 1-5 scores from 2 general surgery programs from 1999-2009, with a goal of discerning how Step 1 and Step 2 scores should be used in resident selection and screening. ⋯ USMLE Step 1 scores showed limited utility in predicting later ABSITE scores whereas Step 2 scores were more predictive of all years of ABSITE scores. These findings should prompt additional research into the relationship between examination performances at different points along the general surgery education continuum. In the mean time, general surgery program directors and faculty might do well to examine the relationships between Step 1 and Step 2 scores and ABSITE scores in their own programs to evaluate the usefulness of considering either score when ranking potential residents for selection into a program.
-
Comparative Study
Disparity between actual case volume and the perceptions of case volume needed to train competent general surgeons.
Variances between resident expectations and faculty expectations may create conflict and/or dissatisfaction. The objective of this study was to determine if resident expectations of case requirements differed significantly from faculty expectations and/or national and program averages. ⋯ Resident and faculty perceptions of the number of cases needed for a competent graduating general surgery resident differ substantially from each other as well as from actual means. Improved education of each group to better align expectations with reality may improve satisfaction during training and confidence upon completion of training.