Journal of surgical education
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This study aimed to evaluate the proportion and characteristics of women who serve in general surgery program director (PD) and associate program director (APD) positions in the United States. ⋯ Among general surgery program directorship, men continue to hold more positions of educational leadership, although the trend appears to be shifting toward a more equal balance, particularly in those programs with proportionately more women faculty. This discrepancy may be due to academic rank or length of tenure. As more women hold academic positions in the field of general surgery, an increase in the representation of this group in leadership is anticipated. Although senior leadership (PD) positions remain disproportionately held by men, APD positions are filled by a greater percentage of women than academic surgical faculty, although the absolute percentage remains less than 50%. Educational leadership may be a viable path to academic leadership for both women and men.
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The purpose of this effort was to create an educational experience that provided learners a realistic disclosure experience and improved resident confidence discussing an adverse outcome with a patient and family. ⋯ Residents received important skills practice in our disclosure training; disclosure confidence increased after participation. Residents scored high on completion of disclosure tasks and low on comfort and proficiency of those tasks. The Checklist provided a useful set of tasks to review and complete in the exercise. Separating residents by PGY level enabled senior residents to experience a more complex scenario and junior residents extra time to practice.
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Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are explicit, directly observable tasks requiring the demonstration of specific knowledge, skills, and behaviors that learners are expected to perform without direct supervision once they have gained sufficient competence. Undergraduate level implementation of EPAs is relatively new. We examined the characteristics of a workplace assessment form (clinic card) as part of a formative programmatic assessment process of EPAs for a core undergraduate surgery rotation. ⋯ The findings support the feasibility, utility, catalytic and educational benefits of clinic cards in assessing EPAs in a core surgery rotation in undergraduate medical education.
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Resuscitative Thoracotomy or Emergency Department Thoracotomy (EDT) is a time-sensitive and potentially life-saving procedure. Yet, trainee experience with this procedure is often limited in both clinical and simulation settings. We sought to develop a high-fidelity EDT simulation module and assessment tool to facilitate trainee education. ⋯ Our novel high-fidelity beating-heart EDT simulator is realistic and improves trainee confidence in this low-frequency, high-stakes emergency procedure. The EDT-OSATS tool differentiates between performances of experienced surgeons vs novice trainees on the beating-heart simulator. This training module and accompanying assessment instrument hold promise as a learning tool for clinicians who may perform emergency department thoracotomy.
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It is vital for physicians and surgeons to communicate successfully with older adults, who will constitute one-fifth of the US population by 2030. Older adults often perceive themselves as stigmatized and powerless in healthcare settings. Effective communication leads to better patient compliance and satisfaction, which is now a component of Medicare hospital reimbursement and physician and surgeon compensation from hospitals and networks. ⋯ Significant change was seen in residents' attitudes and anxiety levels toward older adults, attributes that are usually deep seated and hard to change. Residents moved along the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones continuum for three core competencies.