Teach Design to Surgical Trainees: One Small Step for Surgeons, One Giant Leap for Surgery.

The field of surgery faces complex, systemic challenges that will require new academic frameworks. In this paper, we propose design thinking as a useful problem-solving technique to apply to such challenges. We define design thinking and provide a brief history of this practice. Finally, we offer suggestions to introduce design thinking to surgical trainees, drawing from the experience of innovation programs that have incorporated this technique.

EQIP's First Year: A Step Closer to Higher Quality in Surgical Education.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the first year of the Educational Quality Improvement Program (EQIP) DESIGN: The Educational Quality Improvement Program (EQIP) was formed by the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) in 2018 as a continuous educational quality improvement program. Over 18 months, thirteen discrete goals for the establishment of EQIP were refined and executed through a collaborative effort involving leaders in surgical education. Alpha and beta pilots were conducted to refine the data queries and collection processes. A highly-secure, doubly-deidentified database was created for the ingestion of resident and program data. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: 36 surgical training programs with 1264 trainees and 1500 faculty members were included in the dataset. 51,516 ERAS applications to programs were also included. Uni- and multi-variable analysis was then conducted. RESULTS: EQIP was successfully deployed within the timeline described in 2020. Data from the ACGME, ABS, and ERAS were merged with manually entered data by programs and successfully ingested into the EQIP database. Interactive dashboards have been constructed for use by programs to compare to the national cohort. Risk-adjusted multivariable analysis suggests that increased time in a technical skills lab was associated with increased success on the ABS's Qualifying Examination, alone. Increased time in a technical skills lab and the presence of a formal teaching curriculum were associated with increased success on both the ABS's Qualifying and Certifying Examination. Program type may be of some consequence in predicting success on the Qualifying Examination. CONCLUSIONS: The APDS has proved the concept that a highly secure database for the purpose of continuous risk-adjusted quality improvement in surgical education can be successfully deployed. EQIP will continue to improve and hopes to include an increasing number of programs as the barriers to participation are overcome.

The APDS General Surgery Education Quality Improvement Program (EQIP).

BACKGROUND: Although the ACGME has called for outcomes-based evaluation of residency programs, few metrics or benchmarks exist connecting educational processes with resident educational outcomes. To address this deficiency, a national Education Quality Improvement Program (EQIP) for General Surgery training is proposed. METHODS: We describe the initial efforts to create this platform. In addition, a national survey was administered to 330 Program Directors to assess their interest in and concerns about a continuous educational quality improvement project. RESULTS: We demonstrate that through a collaborative process and the support of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS), we were able to develop the groundwork for a national surgical educational improvement project, now called EQIP. The survey response rate was 45.8% (152 of 332 programs) representing a mix of university (55.3%), university-affiliated (18.4%), independent (24.3%), and military (2.0%) programs. Most respondents (66.2%) had not previously heard of EQIP. Most respondents (69.7%) believe that educational outcomes can be measured. The majority of respondents indicated they believed EQIP could be successful (57%). Only 2.3% thought EQIP would not be successful. Almost all programs (98.7%) expressed a willingness to participate, although 19.1% did not believe that they had adequate resources to participate. CONCLUSION: The APDS EQIP platform holds promise as a useful and achievable method to obtain educational outcomes data. These data can be used as a basis for continuous surgical educational quality improvement. General Surgery Program Directors have expressed enthusiasm for EQIP and are willing to participate in the program examining outcomes of General Surgery training programs, with an ultimate goal of improving overall residency training.

Does resident experience affect outcomes in complex abdominal surgery? Pancreaticoduodenectomy as an example.

OBJECTIVES: Understanding the factors contributing to improved postoperative patient outcomes remains paramount. For complex abdominal operations such as pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD), the influence of provider and hospital volume on surgical outcomes has been described. The impact of resident experience is less well understood. METHODS: We reviewed perioperative outcomes after PD at a single high-volume center between 2006 and 2012. Resident participation and outcomes were collected in a prospectively maintained database. Resident experience was defined as postgraduate year (PGY) and number of PDs performed. RESULTS: Forty-three residents and four attending surgeons completed 686 PDs. The overall complication rate was 44 %; PD-specific complications (defined as pancreatic fistula, delayed gastric emptying, intraabdominal abscess, wound infection, and bile leak) occurred in 28 % of patients. The overall complication rates were similar when comparing PGY 4 to PGY 5 residents (55.3 vs. 43.0 %; p > 0.05). On univariate analysis, there was a difference in PD-specific complications seen between a PGY 4 as compared to a PGY 5 resident (44 vs. 27 %, respectively; p = 0.016). However, this was not statistically significant when adjusted for attending surgeon. Logistic regression demonstrated that as residents perform more cases, PD-specific complications decrease (OR = 0.97; p < 0.01). For a resident's first PD case, the predicted probability of a PD-specific complication is 27 %; this rate decreases to 19 % by resident case number 15. CONCLUSIONS: Complex cases, such as PD, provide unparalleled learning opportunities and remain an important component of surgical training. We highlight the impact of resident involvement in complex abdominal operations, demonstrating for the first time that as residents build experience with PD, patient outcomes improve. This is consistent with volume-outcome relationships for attending physicians and high-volume hospitals. Maximizing resident repetitive exposure to complex procedures benefits both the patient and the trainee.

Serum blood urea nitrogen and serum albumin on the first postoperative day predict pancreatic fistula and major complications after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

INTRODUCTION: Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) has a high morbidity rate. Previous work has shown that hypoalbuminemia on postoperative day 1 (POD) to be contributory to post-esophagectomy complications. We set out to determine the impact of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and albumin on POD 1 for patients undergoing PD. METHODS: We examined 446 consecutive patients who underwent PD at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2008. Complications were graded using the Clavien scale. We examined the incidence of complications based on POD 1 albumin <2.5 versus ≥2.5 mg/dl, as well as POD 1 BUN <10 vs. ≥10 g/dL. RESULTS: Patients with a BUN <10 had a significantly decreased risk of any complication (p < 0.001), serious complication (p < 0.001), and pancreatic fistula (p = 0.011). On multivariate analysis, BUN ≥ 10 was the most significant predictor of grade III or above complication (p = 0.0019, hazard ration (HR) = 2.7) and pancreatic fistula (p = 0.016, HR = 2.6). POD 1 albumin <2.5 mg/dl was also an independent predictor of serious complication (p = 0.01, HR = 2.3). Patients with both risk factors had a 31 % chance of developing serious complications and 18.5 % risk of developing pancreatic fistula, while those patients with neither risk factor had a 6.5 and 3.6 % risk, respectively. CONCLUSION: Serum albumin and BUN on POD 1 are important predictors of perioperative morbidity following PD. These low-cost and easily accessible tests can be used as a prognostic tool to predict adverse surgical outcomes.