A course in medical device design & commercialization for medical students pursuing surgical fields.

BACKGROUND: The modern surgeon faces an ever-changing landscape of procedural innovation. The demands of present-day healthcare highlight the importance of successfully developing new medical devices and technologies. This effort requires multidisciplinary collaborations of professionals ranging from manufacturers and engineers to researchers and healthcare providers. Surgeons regularly interact with complex equipment and user interfaces without substantial formal education on their design and development. The objective of this study was to ascertain the impact of a 10-week BME course into a medical school curriculum on surgery-bound students' knowledge of product design and gauge their ability to develop an actual product to meet a real need in a surgical field. METHODS: A Medical Device Design and Commercialization co-enrolled elective course was offered to medical students at a single institution. Five students with an expressed surgical and procedural interest were enrolled. At the beginning of the course, they were tasked with developing a product to meet a clinical need they observed. At the conclusion of the course, students filled out a questionnaire about their level of comfort and knowledge of the material using a 5-point Likert scale. This survey was administered to a control group of medical students who did not take the course. RESULTS: The BME student cohort was able to successfully identify a post-operative need, develop a prototype of a novel device, and present their product to attending surgeons. A total of 35 survey entries were received: five from the experimental group and 30 from the comparison group. The experimental group scored higher than the comparison group for all survey questions and reached the level of statistical significance in 13 of the 15 questions (p < 0.05). Survey respondents reported similar degrees of knowledge and comfort in recognizing unmet needs in a hospital setting and formulating a comprehensive statement describing them. CONCLUSION: The principles of biomedical engineering are integral to advancing the field of surgery. Presently, a small cohort of medical students/residents successfully acquired and applied basic BME concepts in a relatively short period of time relative to other training paradigms. Our findings also suggest medical students recognize unmet needs in the hospital setting, and those who completed a BME course felt more able to take steps to meet those needs. Early integration of biomedical engineering principles in medical training may help produce more innovative and well-rounded surgeons.

Virtual Interactions and the 2020-2021 Residency Application Cycle in General Surgery: A Look Ahead.

INTRODUCTION: General surgery residency training programs adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic by going online instead of in-person, through virtual interviews, social media engagement, and virtual open houses. The impact of these virtual interactions is unknown. We sought to understand their effectiveness as per residency program directors and assistant program directors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An institutional review board approval was obtained to conduct this anonymous survey. A Qualtrics XM survey containing multiple-choice and short-answer questions was distributed to 590 residency program and assistant program directors through the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) listserv on July 6, July 13, and July 20. RESULTS: We observed a response rate of approximately 11% across the 590 surgeons contacted. Nearly all (90%) respondents offered virtual preinterview interactions, primarily virtual open houses, virtual facility tours, and virtual question and answer (Q&A) sessions with residents and faculty; 48% of respondents were unsure of the utility of virtual interactions and the majority (54%) felt that virtual interaction limits a program's ability to evaluate applicants. Virtual Q&As were ranked to be the most effective interaction (7.6/10); 80% of respondents felt that visiting rotations were "somewhat important" to "very important," the two highest options available. In addition, 74% felt that applicants missed out on fully experiencing the program by forgoing these rotations. Most respondents (78%) noted that evaluation of applicants' preinterview did not change as a result of virtual interactions. Nearly half (48%) of the respondents offered more interview days due to the virtual format. A fifth (21%) of respondents stated that virtual interactions resulted in a change in the rank position of an applicant. Respondents ranked Twitter and Instagram higher in applicant engagement than Facebook. Factors that impacted interview or rank order list the most were late/absent step two CK scores (33%) and a lack of away rotations (31%), both being limitations largely due to the pandemic. With respect to future application cycles, most (71%) raised concerns regarding disparities between applicants applying in-person and virtually if both or either are offered. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that program directors and associate program directors have reservations about the use of virtual interactions with applicants. Interestingly, these data suggest that visiting subinternships are useful for programs in evaluating applicants. This may encourage students to pursue rotations at other institutions at the expense of already-limited resources. It remains unclear whether virtual interactions will be used in the future, but respondents largely agreed that the virtual means of interacting with and disseminating information to the applicants of the 2020-2021 general surgery Match were a success.

A prediction model for postoperative urinary retention after thoracic surgery.

Background: Urinary retention remains a frequent postoperative complication, associated with patient discomfort and delayed discharge following general thoracic surgery (GTS). We aimed to develop and prospectively validate a predictive model of postoperative urinary retention (POUR) among GTS patients. Methods: We retrospectively developed a predictive model using data from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons GTS Database at our institution. The patient study cohort included adults undergoing elective in-patient surgical procedures without a history of renal failure or Foley catheter on entry to the recovery suite (August 2013 to March 2017). Multivariable logistic regression models identified factors associated with urinary retention, and a nomogram to aid medical decision making was developed. The predictive model was validated in a cohort of GTS patients between April 2017 and November 2018 using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results: The predictive model was developed from 1484 GTS patients, 284 of whom (19%) experienced postoperative urinary retention within 24 hours of the operation. Risk factors for POUR included older age, male sex, higher preoperative creatinine, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, primary diagnosis, primary procedure, and use of postoperative patient-controlled analgesia. A logistic nomogram for estimating the risk of POUR was created and validated in 646 patients, 65 of whom (10%) had urinary retention. The ROC curves of development and validation models had similar favorable c-statistics (0.77 vs 0.72; P > .05). Conclusions: Postoperative urinary retention occurs in nearly 20% of patients undergoing major GTS. Using a validated predictive model may help by targeting certain patients with prophylactic measures to prevent this complication.