Teaching surgical residents to evaluate scholarly articles: a constructivist approach.

BACKGROUND: The ability to critically appraise scholarly journals is an essential skill for surgical residents in their journey to being lifelong learners. Methods to teach evaluation of scholarly articles are scant in the educational literature. METHODS: Residents completed a pre-test on evaluation of surgical literature. Two lectures on methodology and statistics followed. A board-certified surgeon and residents evaluated 7 articles using a scoring form. A post-test followed. Four additional sessions on evaluating surgical articles were held without the rating form. Residents completed a second post-test. RESULTS: Residents showed improved knowledge and skills on evaluating surgical literature on the first and second post-tests when compared with the pretest ( P < 0.0005 for both tests). CONCLUSIONS: Surgical residents can be taught to evaluate literature using constructivist Educational theory. There was a significant improvement in knowledge and the skills of literature evaluation, which persisted after the educational aid was removed.

Factors that influence lymph node retrieval in the surgical treatment of colorectal cancer: a comparison of the laparoscopic versus open approach.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine whether surgical approach and patient demographics are important factors that influence lymph node retrieval. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of patients receiving surgical treatment for colorectal cancer at a single institution. RESULTS: Two hundred three patients underwent resection for colorectal cancer. The total number of lymph nodes recovered and the number of lymph nodes involved were similar in both the laparoscopic group and the open group. Patients who had right-sided colon resection had a higher total number of lymph nodes recovered. There was no effect of age, sex, race, or body mass index (BMI) on the total number of lymph nodes harvested or on the number of positive lymph nodes. CONCLUSIONS: Adequate regional lymphadenectomy for colorectal cancer can be successfully performed using a laparoscopic approach. Patient demographics did not make a difference in the number of total or positive lymph nodes recovered.