Journal of surgical education
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Timely debriefing following a simulated event supports learners in critically reflecting on their performance and areas for improvement. Content of debriefing has been shown to affect learner skill acquisition and retention. The use of good judgment statements from debriefing facilitators is considered superior to judgmental or nonjudgmental statements. Ideally, the majority of the conversation will consist of learner self-reflection and focused facilitation rather than directive performance feedback. We hypothesized that the introduction of a written tool to help facilitate high-quality debriefing techniques could improve the ratio of judgmental, nonjudgmental, and good judgment statements from facilitators, as well as shift the percentage of talk in the debrief away from directive performance feedback and toward self-assessment and focused facilitation. ⋯ The discourse in our interprofessional trauma simulation debriefings unaided by a written debriefing tool skewed heavily toward direct performance feedback, with a preponderance of nonjudgmental statements. After introduction of the tool, dialogue shifted significantly toward learner self-assessment, and there was a large increase in utilization of debriefing with good judgment. This shift toward higher quality debriefing styles demonstrates the utility of such a tool in the debriefing of interprofessional simulations.
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Surgeon educators in departments of surgery play key roles in leading and advancing surgical education. Their activities include ensuring sound curricula and evaluation systems, monitoring education resources, overseeing faculty development, and providing mentorship. For more than 25 years, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has offered a comprehensive "Surgeons as Educators" (SAE) course to address fundamental topics in surgical education. This study aims to identify future career needs of SAE graduates to inform the development of an American College of Surgeons Certificate in Applied Surgical Education Leadership program. ⋯ An SAE graduate survey has confirmed the need for additional formal training in surgical education leadership in order to permit surgeon educators meet the demands of the changing landscape of surgical education. The needs of early career faculty may differ from those of more senior surgeon educators.
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We aimed to assess surgical residents' communication confidence and skills, analyze resident feedback on our ongoing communication curriculum, and report feedback-driven updates. ⋯ We assessed and analyzed surgical residents' communication skills and confidence over 17 months; both showed significant increase over the course of the communication curriculum. We adapted our curriculum using resident feedback and engagement. Our results suggest that communication training can be an effective tool to improve non-technical skills.
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Bile duct injury remains a serious complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy despite established criteria for the critical view of safety (CVS). Using surgical videos, we compared surgeons' willingness to divide critical structures based on their assessment of the CVS dissection. ⋯ There was minimal agreement on what constituted a safe CVS dissection and there was no difference in the rate of unsafe practices between trainees and faculty. Education may play a more important role than experience when building a culture of safety for laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
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International experiences are an increasingly emphasized feature of general surgery residency programs. In 2008, an international elective (IE) was implemented for general surgery residents at our institution. This effort was augmented by the establishment of a pathway for formal approval of IEs by the American Board of Surgery and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2012. ⋯ Incorporation of IEs into our general surgery residency has demonstrated numerous benefits. IE participation provides valuable operative experience in both volume and variety, and can be especially impactful for those who may not have elected to pursue such opportunities independently. These experiences have the potential to empower general surgery residents to invest in similar practices and acts of generosity in their future careers.