Journal of surgical education
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The SCORE curriculum defines surgical operations/procedures that residents are expected to be competent with by the end of the residency. ⋯ This experience suggests that leadership at SCORE and the ACGME need to make the curriculum and logging system compatible and that surgical residents need to be better educated with regards to case logging. Despite these issues, important differences appeared to exist between actual resident operative experiences and expectations set by the SCORE curriculum. Based on these finding we advocate that similar gap analyses be performed at other surgical residency training programs to identify discrepancies between program experience and SCORE curriculum expectations.
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Omental infarction is a rare cause of acute abdomen that until recently was diagnosed only on exploratory surgery for presumed acute appendicitis or similar abdominal emergency. The increasing use of high-quality imaging, especially computerized tomography, in the diagnosis of appendicitis and the acute abdomen, has allowed preoperative diagnosis to be made much more often. ⋯ It has also sparked a debate as to the best management of omental infarction, with strong support for both nonoperative management and definitive laparoscopic surgery. We present a case of omental torsion diagnosed preoperatively by the characteristic whirl sign and ultimately treated by laparoscopic surgery together with a brief review of the condition and our own recommendations.
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Patient quality outcomes are a major focus of the health care industry. It is unknown what effect involvement in graduate medical education (GME) has on patient outcomes. The purpose of this study is to begin to examine whether GME involvement in postoperative care impacts patient quality outcomes. ⋯ GME at teaching institutions has a positive impact on patient quality outcomes. At our institution, many of the SCIP measurable outcomes had improved compliance if an attending physician participated in the GME program.
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Mentoring is advocated as an essential adjunct in work-based learning providing support in career and noncareer related issues. This study aims to investigate trainee experiences and satisfaction with mentoring arrangements. ⋯ We advocate the establishment of a mentoring matching scheme for mentors and mentees together with mentor training to improve mentoring provision for surgical trainees.
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Surgical training is currently undergoing many changes. Moves toward an outcomes-based education based on achievement of core competencies will have a significant impact on how trainees are taught and evaluated. New strategies must therefore be sought to enhance surgical training to achieve outstanding resident education and safe patient care. ⋯ This article reviews the attributes of expert surgeons, as well as the role of deliberate practice, contextual interference, and distributed practice in the development of expertise. The role of simulation in surgical training is also discussed. The findings have direct relevance to surgical training and continuing medical educational courses, and these results may help in the design of future surgical training programs.