Application Factors May Not Be Predictors of Success Among General Surgery Residents as Measured by ACGME Milestones.

BACKGROUND: Can factors within the Electronic Residency Application Service application be used to predict the success of general surgery residents as measured by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) general surgery milestones? METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 21 residents who completed training at a single general surgery residency program. Electronic Residency Application Service applications were reviewed for objective data, such as age, US Medical Licensing Examination scores, and authorship of academic publications as well as for letters of recommendation, which were scored using a standardized grading system. These factors were correlated to resident success as measured by ACGME general surgery milestone outcomes using univariate and multivariate analyses. This study was conducted at a single academic tertiary care and level 1 trauma facility. Residents who completed general surgery residency training from the years of 2012-2018 were included in the study. RESULTS: There were few correlations between application factors and resident success determined by the ACGME milestones. CONCLUSIONS: Application factors alone do not account for ongoing growth and development throughout residency. Unlike the results presented in the literature for other surgical subspecialties, predicting general surgery resident success based on application factors is not straightforward.

Fostering Students' Personal and Professional Growth: Responding to Error During the Internal Medicine Clerkship.

OBJECTIVES: Developing professionalism is critical to medical education; accordingly, professionalism curricula may be implemented longitudinally throughout undergraduate medical education. Here we share our experiences addressing student response to medical error as a component of professionalism education during the core clerkship year. METHODS: This pretest-posttest study reports medical students' knowledge regarding learning and growing in response to medical error. Students complete an online module, Beyond Recovery: Learning and Growing in the Wake of an Error, during the Internal Medicine Clerkship. We analyzed matched pre- and posttest responses using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. RESULTS: Pre- and posttest queries addressed 5 key elements during clinician assessment of medical error: self-expectations of perfection, long-term guilt following an error, likelihood of leaving the medical profession following an error, ability to address error with patients and families, and ability to grow in response to medical error. Results indicate students felt significantly more comfortable after completing the module in key components of managing emotions and responses in the wake of an error. CONCLUSION: Benefits observed in medical students' perspectives include improved ability to move forward following medical error, ability to engage with affected patients and families, and capacity to learn from mistakes. Despite these positives, students' high self-expectations of perfectionism were unchanged.

Evaluating a Situational Judgment Test for Use in Medical School Admissions: Two Years of AAMC PREview Exam Administration Data.

PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Professional Readiness Exam (PREview) scores and other admissions data, group differences in mean PREview scores, and whether adding a new assessment tool affected the volume and composition of applicant pools. METHOD: Data from the 2020 and 2021 PREview exam administrations were analyzed. Two U.S. schools participated in the PREview pilot in 2020 and 6 U.S. schools participated in 2021. PREview scores were paired with data from the American Medical College Application Service (undergraduate grade point averages [GPAs], Medical College Admission Test [MCAT] scores, race, and ethnicity) and participating schools (interview ratings). RESULTS: Data included 19,525 PREview scores from 18,549 unique PREview examinees. Correlations between PREview scores and undergraduate GPAs ( r = .16) and MCAT scores ( r = .29) were small and positive. Correlations between PREview scores and interview ratings were also small and positive, ranging between .09 and .14 after correcting for range restriction. Small group differences in mean PREview scores were observed between White and Black or African American and White and Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin examinees. The addition of the PREview exam did not substantially change the volume or composition of participating schools' applicant pools. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest the PREview exam measures knowledge of competencies that are distinct from those measured by other measures used in medical school admissions. Observed group differences were smaller than group differences observed with traditional academic assessments and evaluations. The addition of the PREview exam did not substantially change the overall volume of applications or the proportions of out-of-state, underrepresented in medicine, or lower socioeconomic status applicants. While more research is needed, these results suggest the PREview exam may provide unique information to the admissions process without adversely affecting applicant pools.

Broad Needs Assessment of Pain Education in Graduate Medical Education.

This article describes a survey-based study of graduate medical residents and fellows in an integrated health system. The study explores pain curricula, learner perspectives about pain education, and learner knowledge, attitudes, and confidence. Results indicate that pain education in the graduate medical setting is inadequate to meet learner needs.

High value care education in general surgery residency programs: A multi-institutional needs assessment.

BACKGROUND: The ACGME mandates that residency programs provide training related to high value care (HVC). The purpose of this study was to explore HVC education in general surgery residency programs. METHODS: An electronic survey was distributed to general surgery residents in geographically diverse programs. RESULTS: The response rate was 29% (181/619). Residents reported various HVC components in their curricula. Less than half felt HVC is very important for their future practice (44%) and only 15% felt confident they could lead a QI initiative in practice. Only 20% of residents reported participating in a root cause analysis and less than one-third of residents (30%) were frequently exposed to cost considerations. CONCLUSION: Few residents feel prepared to lead quality improvement initiatives, have participated in patient safety processes, or are aware of patients' costs of care. This underscores the need for improved scope and quality of HVC education and establishment of formal curricula.

Meaningful autonomy in general surgery training: Exploring for gender bias.

BACKGROUND: Resident autonomy is essential to the development of a surgical resident. This study aims to analyze gender differences in meaningful autonomy (MA) given to general surgery trainees intraoperatively. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of general surgery residents at an academic-affiliated tertiary care facility. Attending surgeons completed post-operative evaluations based on the Zwisch model (4-point scale, ≥3 indicating MA). RESULTS: Attending faculty members (37 males, 15 females) completed evaluations of 35 residents (18 males, 17 females). A total of 3574 evaluations were analyzed (1380 female, 2194 male residents) over 28 months. Multivariate analysis revealed case complexity, post graduate year level and rater gender were significantly associated with MA. Resident gender and faculty experience did not impact MA. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to published literature, resident gender did not influence MA. This may be encouraging to surgical programs seeking strategies to address gender bias.

The Value of Surgical Graduate Medical Education (GME) Programs Within An Integrated Health Care System.

OBJECTIVE: Surgical graduate medical education (GME) programs add both significant cost and complexity to the mission of teaching hospitals. While expenses tied directly to surgical training programs are well tracked, overall cost-benefit accounting has not been performed. In this study, we attempt to better define the costs and benefits of maintaining surgical GME programs within a large integrated health system. DESIGN: We examined the costs, in 2018 US dollars, associated with the surgical training programs within a single health system. Total health system expenses were calculated using actual and estimated direct GME expenses (salary, benefits, supplies, overhead, and teaching expenses) as well as indirect medical education (IME) expenses. IME expenses for each training program were estimated by using both Medicare percentages and the Medicare Payment Advisor Commission study. The projected cost to replace surgical trainees with advanced practitioners or hospitalists was obtained through interviews with program directors and administrators and was validated by our system's business office. SETTING: A physician lead, integrated, rural health system consisting of 8 hospitals, a medical school and a health insurance company. PARTICIPANTS: GME surgical training programs within a single health system's department of surgery. RESULTS: Our health system's department of surgery supports 8 surgical GME programs (2 general surgery residencies along with residencies in otolaryngology, ophthalmology, oral-maxillofacial surgery, urology, pediatric dentistry, and vascular surgery), encompassing 89 trainees. Trainees work an average of 64.4 hours per week. Total health system cost per resident ranged from $249,657 to $516,783 based on specialty as well as method of calculating IME expenses. After averaging program costs and excluding IME and overhead expenses, we estimated the average annual cost per trainee to be $84,171. We projected that replacing our surgical trainees would require hiring 145 additional advanced practitioners at a cost of $166,500 each per year, or 97 hospitalists at a cost of $346,500 each per year. Excluding overhead, teaching and IME expenses, these replacements would cost the health system an estimated additional $16,651,281 or $26,119,281 per year, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical education is an integral part of our health system and ending surgical GME programs would require large expansion of human resources and significant additional fiscal capital.

Laparoscopic transhiatal esophagectomy for esophageal adenocarcinoma identified at laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

INTRODUCTION: More than one third of Americans are obese. Obesity is a risk factor for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA). The only durable treatment for morbid obesity and its comorbid conditions is bariatric surgery. There is no consensus among bariatric surgeons, however, regarding the role of preoperative screening upper endoscopy in bariatric surgery. PRESENTATION OF CASE: Two cases of incidental EA were identified by completion EGD following laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB). EGD was done for anastomotic surveillance and provocative leak testing. Esophageal masses were identified and biopsies demonstrated adenocarcinoma. In both cases a laparoscopic transhiatal esophagectomy (LTHE) was completed using the gastric remnant as conduit; the biliopancreatic limb was divided proximal to the jejunojejunostomy and anastomosed to the proximal roux limb to complete the reconstruction. DISCUSSION: Obesity is a risk factor for GERD and EA. The role of EGD prior to bariatric surgery is unclear. Studies have demonstrated routine EGD prior to bariatric surgery may diagnose foregut pathology; however, few of the findings alter the planned treatment. The cost effectiveness of this strategy is questionable. There are reports of EA developing after bariatric surgery; however, we found no previous case reports of EA identified at LRYGB. CONCLUSION: Our institution has opted for selective preoperative endoscopy in patients with preoperative gastrointestinal symptoms. In post gastric bypass patients LTHE can be performed with good results.