Strategies and Challenges of a Safe Fireplace Program in Rural Kenya: A Qualitative Study.

There is a lack of information on effective burn prevention strategies. The objective of this study was to examine a safe fireplace program, as a method of burn prevention, in a resource-limited setting. We conducted a qualitative, phenomenological study at a community health and development program for a rural population in Kenya. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of community health workers involved with the safe fireplace program. Data were reviewed iteratively and coded independently by two researchers using NVivo 12. The study included five participants. Reflections from participants fell into three main domains: (1) effective methods of education, (2) strategies to incorporate stakeholders, and (3) implementation challenges. The results of this study emphasize the importance of community engagement in implementing a successful burn injury prevention program in a resource-limited setting. The participants involved in this study reported that rather than focusing on resources outside the community, effective methods of education and strategies for incorporating stakeholders depended on involving peers and community leaders. The challenges to the program were similarly specific to community concerns about resources and maintenance. These findings provide information to guide future community health programs in creating successful models for burn prevention strategies in resource-limited areas.

Changing Surgical Culture Through Surgical Education: Introduction to the PACTS Trial.

The Provider Awareness and Cultural dexterity Toolkit for Surgeons (PACTS) curriculum was developed to improve surgical resident cultural dexterity, with the goal of promoting health equity by developing cognitive skills to adapt to individual patients' needs to ensure personal, patient-centered surgical care through structured educational interventions for surgical residents. Funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH)'s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, PACTS addresses surgical disparities in patient care by incorporating varied educational interventions, with investigation of both traditional and nontraditional educational outcomes such as patient-reported and clinical outcomes, across multiple hospitals and regions. The unique attributes of this multicenter, multiphased research trial will not only impact future surgical education research, but hopefully improve how surgeons learn nontechnical skills that modernize surgical culture and surgical care. The present perspective piece serves as an introduction to this multifaceted surgical education trial, highlighting the rationale for the study and critical curricular components such as key stakeholders from multiple institutions, multimodal learning and feedback, and diverse educational outcomes.

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.

Neighborhood risk: Socioeconomic status and hospital admission for pediatric burn patients.

BACKGROUND: Burn injury continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality in the US pediatric population. Many studies using inpatient samples have found a relationship between low socioeconomic status (SES) and burn injury. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the association between SES and the likelihood of admission for Emergency Department (ED) visits for pediatric burn injury. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective database review of pediatric ED visits for burn injury from a statewide hospital system, from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2014. SES was assigned using an eight factor Neighborhood Risk Index (NRI) created from census block group data, with a higher score indicative of lower SES. The outcome measure was ED visits admitted to inpatient care. RESULTS: We analyzed a sample of 1845 pediatric ED visits for burn injuries. Most visits were discharged from the ED (88.4%) while 10.5% were admitted to inpatient care and 1.0% were transferred to another hospital. In a multivariable logistic regression model, patients from high risk areas (>75th percentile NRI) had 1.58 higher odds of inpatient admission compared to patients from low risk areas (<75th percentile NRI; 95% CI: 1.08-2.30), after adjusting for age, gender, ethnicity, distance to the hospital, and previous ED visit for burn injury in the past 30 days. In addition, for every 1-mile increase in distance, a child's likelihood of admission increased by 6% (95% CI: 4-9%). CONCLUSIONS: Children with a burn injury from the highest risk socioeconomic areas in Rhode Island had a higher likelihood of inpatient admission. Further research is needed to determine what factors associated with socioeconomic status impact this finding.

Referral Patterns of Burn Injury in Rural Kenya.

Burn injury represents a substantial burden of disease in resource-limited settings. Kenya has no formal trauma system and referral practices for burn injuries are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors associated with burn injury referrals in rural Kenya. A retrospective chart review was conducted for patients with burn injury from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2017 at a 300-bed faith-based, teaching hospital in southwest Kenya. Bivariate analysis compared referred and non-referred patients. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between burn severity and odds of referral adjusting for age, sex, insurance, time from injury to arrival, and estimated travel time from home to hospital. The study included 171 patients with burn injury; 11 patients were excluded due to missing referral data. Of the 160 patients, 31.9% (n = 51) were referred. Referral patients had higher average total body surface area burn (23.1 ± 2.4% vs 11.1 ± 1.2%, P < .001), were more likely to have full-thickness burns (41.3% vs 25.5%, P = .05), and less likely to present to the referral hospital within 24 hours after injury (47.8% vs 73.0%, P = .005). Referral patients had longer travel time to hospital (90+ min: 52.9% vs 22.0%, P < .001). Odds of referral increased 1.62 times (95% confidence interval: 1.19-2.22) for every 10% increase in total body surface area burn. Without a coordinated trauma system, referrals represent a substantial portion of burn injury patients at a hospital in rural Kenya. Referred patients present with more severe burns and experience delays to presentation.

Beyond the Surgical Time-Out: A National Needs Assessment of Preoperative Communication in US General Surgery Residency Programs.

OBJECTIVE: Perioperative communication is critical for procedural learning. In order to develop a periprocedural faculty development tool, we aimed to characterize the current status of preoperative communication in US General Surgery residency programs. DESIGN: After Association of Program Directors in Surgery approval, a survey was distributed to general surgery programs. Participants were asked about perioperative communication, including the frequency of preoperative briefings, defined as dedicated educational discussions prior to a procedure. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. SETTING: An anonymous electronic survey was distributed to interested programs in early 2019. PARTICIPANTS: US General Surgery trainees and attending surgeons. RESULTS: A total of 348 responses were recorded from 27 programs: 199 (57%) attending surgeons and 149 (43%) surgical trainees. Most respondents (83%) were from a university-affiliated program. Attending surgeons indicated a higher frequency of performing preoperative briefings compared to trainees (p < 0.001). Both trainees and attending surgeons were more likely to select their own group when asked who initiates a preoperative briefing. The majority of respondents (58%) agreed that discussing autonomy preoperatively improves resident autonomy for the case. In regards to the timing of preoperative briefings, most took place in/adjacent to the operating room, with only 60 participants (17%) participating in preoperative briefings the day/night prior to the operation. The most frequent topic discussed during preoperative briefings was "procedural content." Most participants selected "time constraints" as the greatest barrier to preoperative briefings and indicated that attending surgeon engagement was necessary to facilitate their use. Trainees were less likely to report engaging in immediate postoperative feedback, but more likely to report postoperative self-reflection. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative briefings are not necessarily routine and attendings and trainees differ on their perceptions related to their content and frequency. Efforts to address timing and scheduling and encourage dual-party engagement in perioperative communication are key to the development of tools to enhance this important aspect of procedural learning.

Concordance of Resident and Patient Perceptions of Culturally Dexterous Patient Care Skills.

PURPOSE: Disparities in surgical care persist. To mitigate these disparities, we are implementing and testing the Provider Awareness and Cultural dexterity Toolkit for Surgeons (PACTS), a curriculum to improve surgical residents' cultural dexterity during clinical encounters. We analyzed baseline data to look for concordance between residents' self-perceived cultural dexterity skills and patients' perceptions of their skills. We hypothesized that residents would rate their skills in cultural dexterity higher than patients would perceive those skills. METHODS: Prior to the implementation of the curriculum, surgical residents at 5 academic medical centers completed a self-assessment of their skills in culturally dexterous patient care using a modified version of the Cross-Cultural Care Survey. Randomly selected surgical inpatients at these centers completed a similar survey about the quality of culturally dexterous care provided by a surgery resident on their service. Likert scale responses for both assessments were classified as high (agree/strongly agree) or low (neutral/disagree/strongly disagree) competency. Resident and patient ratings of cultural dexterity were compared. Assessments were considered dexterous if 75% of responses were in the high category. Univariate and multivariate analysis was conducted using STATA 16. RESULTS: A total of 179 residents from 5 surgical residency programs completed self-assessments prior to receiving the PACTS curriculum, including 88 (49.2%) women and 97 (54.2%) junior residents (PGY 1-2s), of whom 54.7% were White, 19% were Asian, and 8.9% were Black/African American. A total of 494 patients with an average age of 55.1 years were surveyed, of whom 238 (48.2%) were female and 320 (64.8%) were White. Fifty percent of residents viewed themselves as culturally dexterous, while 57% of patients reported receiving culturally dexterous care; this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.09). Residents who perceived themselves to be culturally dexterous were more likely to self-identify as non-White as compared to White (p < 0.05). On multivariate analysis, White patients were more likely to report highly dexterous care, whereas Black patients were more likely to report poorly dexterous care (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: At baseline, half of patients reported receiving culturally dexterous care from surgical residents at 5 academic medical centers in the United States. This was consistent with residents' self-assessment of their cultural dexterity skills. White patients were more likely to report receiving culturally dexterous care as compared to non-White patients. Non-White residents were more likely to feel confident in their cultural dexterity skills. A novel curriculum has been designed to improve these interactions between patients and surgical residents.

Ad astra per aspera (Through Hardships to the Stars): Lessons Learned from the First National Virtual APDS Meeting, 2020.

OBJECTIVE: After COVID-19 rendered in-person meetings for national societies impossible in the spring of 2020, the leadership of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) innovated via a virtual format in order to hold its national meeting. DESIGN: APDS leadership pre-emptively considered factors that would be important to attendees including cost, value, time, professional commitments, education, sharing of relevant and current information, and networking. SETTING: The meeting was conducted using a variety of virtual formats including a web portal for entry, pre-ecorded poster and oral presentations on the APDS website, interactive panels via a web conferencing platform, and livestreaming. PARTICIPANTS: There were 298 registrants for the national meeting of the APDS, and 59 participants in the New Program Directors Workshop. The registrants and participants comprised medical students, residents, associate program directors, program directors, and others involved in surgical education nationally. RESULTS: There was no significant difference detected for high levels of participant satisfaction between 2019 and 2020 for the following items: overall program rating, topics and content meeting stated objectives, relevant content to educational needs, educational format conducive to learning, and agreement that the program will improve competence, performance, communication skills, patient outcomes, or processes of care/healthcare system performance. CONCLUSIONS: A virtual format for a national society meeting can provide education, engagement, and community, and the lessons learned by the APDS in the process can be used by other societies for utilization and further improvement.

A Full-Thickness Burn in a Teenager Resulting from Prolonged Contact with a Mobile Phone Charging Cube: A Case Report.

We present a case of a teenager who suffered a full-thickness burn following prolonged contact with a mobile phone charging cube. The patient required primary surgical excision and closure of the wound resulting in a good clinical outcome. There have been multiple reports in the literature of burns resulting from lithium batteries; however, this appears to be the first case report of a full thickness burn resulting from a mobile phone charging cube. Given the ubiquity of mobile phone use among teenagers, primary care providers should warn patients about the risks of sleeping with an electronic device while it is connected to a charger.

The Resident Outcome Project: Increased Academic Productivity Associated with a Formal Clinical Research Curriculum.

PURPOSE: A formal 2-year clinical research project in conjunction with a system-based practice and practice-based learning and improvement curriculum was initiated for all residents in our program. Within the structure of this formal clinical research curriculum, residents are required to develop a research hypothesis, develop an appropriate study design, collect and analyze data, and present a completed project. METHODS: At the end of the PGY1 year, residents select a project with an emphasis on quality improvement or clinical outcomes. The first 6 months of the 2-year program are dedicated to the identification of a faculty mentor and submission of a formal proposal to both the departmental education committee and to the institutional IRB. Over the following 12 months, residents meet monthly for required group research meetings. The final 6 months are focused on data analysis and project completion. RESULTS: Seventy-five residents have successfully completed the clinical research program since it was initiated in 2002. Completed projects led to abstracts accepted at 33 national or regional meetings and 11 peer reviewed publications to date. In addition, 3 major hospital wide quality improvement measures were initiated based on project findings. Following the first peer reviewed publication associated with these research projects in 2006, there have been significant increases in not only the number of accepted abstracts from these resident projects (3/18 [17%] vs 30/57 [53%], p = 0.008) but also the total number of all accepted resident clinical research (mean accepted abstracts per year 7.9 vs 1.0, p = 0.009 and mean peer reviewed publications per year 6.8 vs 2.0, p = 0.003.) DISCUSSION: Increased academic productivity was observed after a formal resident clinical research program was initiated in our program. Resident research efforts extended beyond the specific initial outcome projects as skills gained allowed for future independent clinical research.

Intoxication and Flame Burn Injuries in Young Adults in the United States.

Flame injuries are the primary cause of burns in young adults. Although drug and alcohol intoxication has been associated with other types of trauma, its role in burn injury has not been well described in this population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of intoxication and flame burn injuries in young adults in the United States. The 2014 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample was queried for burn injury visits of young adult patients, 13-25 years old. This data is weighted to allow for national estimates. Burn mechanism and intoxication status were determined by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association of intoxication and emergency department (ED) visits due to flame burns, adjusting for patient age, gender, zip code median income, zip code rural-urban designation, timing of visit, and hospital region. Further analyses assessed the odds of admission or transfer, as a possible proxy of injury severity, in patients with flame or other burns, with and without intoxication adjusting for patient age, gender, primary insurance, and hospital trauma designation. There were 20,787 visits for patients 13-25 years old with burn injuries and 12.9% (n = 2678) had a codiagnosis of intoxication. There was an increasing proportion of intoxication by age (5.8% 13-17 years old, 25% 18-20 years old, 69% 21-25 years old, P < .001). ED visits for burns with a codiagnosis of intoxication had 1.34 times ([95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18, 1.52], P < .01) higher odds of having flame burns compared to other burn mechanisms. Those with flame burns and intoxication were most likely to be admitted or transferred when compared to nonflame, nonintoxication visits in the adjusted model (odds ratio [OR] 5.49, [95% CI: 4.29, 7.02], P < .01). Furthermore, the odds of admission or transfer in visits with the combined exposure of intoxication and flame mechanism were significantly higher than visits due to nonflame burns and intoxication (OR 2.75, [2.25, 3.36], P < .01) or flame burns without intoxication (OR 3.00, [95% CI: 2.61, 3.42], P < .01). This study identified a significant association between flame-burn-related ED visits and intoxication in the young adult population in the United States. In addition, the combination of flame mechanism and intoxication appears to result in more substantial injury compared with either exposure alone. The relationship seen between intoxication and flame burn injury underscores a major target for burn prevention efforts in the young adult population.

Lessons Learned From the Surgical Morbidity and Mortality Conference.

OBJECTIVE: The Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) conference is both a quality improvement and an educational conference. We sought to evaluate the educational and quality improvement value of different learners who attend the surgical M&M conference. Furthermore, we sought to evaluate if an educational intervention directed at medical students (MS) would improve their experience at this conference. DESIGN: Over a 2-month period, we used a third party, real-time audience polling software during 4 M&M conferences using questions concerning medical error, loop closure, learning value, applicability, and professionalism. After baseline data were obtained in Phase 1, MS attended a seminar on the subject of error as part of their orientation. Additionally, to facilitate their preparation, MS were supplied the cases to be presented at that week's conference, a few days before M&M. After this intervention, 3 additional M&M conferences were polled, as described above, as part of Phase 2. Differences between faculty (FAC) and MS experience were assessed by chi-square and ANOVA analyses as appropriate. Study was reviewed and received a waiver from the IRB. SETTING: Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, a tertiary care academic teaching hospital of Brown University. PARTICIPANTS: Audience participants were informed of the voluntary nature of this survey and asked to self-identify as MS, PA/NPs, junior residents, senior residents, or FAC. In phase 1, there were an average of 289 ± 18.7 responses per session, while in phase 2 there were an average of 267 ± 9.29 responses per session. RESULTS: In Phase 1, when asked to characterize the error as practitioner, system, both practitioner and system or neither, FAC were more likely to assign error as practitioner error than MS (15/38 - 39.5% vs 6/41 - 14.6%, p = 0.021). This trend continued in Phase 2, FAC (19/33 - 57.6%) vs MS (8/29 - 27.6%), p = 0.011. In terms of whether learners felt the conference was useful to their education (5 point scale - strongly agree to strongly disagree) the FAC felt conference more useful than MS (4.0 vs 3.63 p = 0.005). This trend continued even after intervention (4.24 vs 3.71 p < 0.001). The FAC and MS had the same opinion as to the closure of the case being "education at conference," change in policy/procedure, both, neither, no response - average: 75, 3, 9, 6, 7%. Both the FAC and the MS felt the environment was professional (Phase 1: 4.42 v 4.18, p = 0.321)(Phase 2: 4.43 v 4.37, p = 0.1002). CONCLUSION: Despite an educational intervention, we found FAC and MS maintained very divergent opinions as to what is practitioner error, and system error, and FAC found the M&M discussion more educational than MS. To maximize learning for MS during surgical M&M more interventions are needed.

"Tweet"-format reflective writing: A hidden needs assessment?

BACKGROUND: Medical student reflection is integral for professional development. Preliminary findings suggest that short-format writing promotes reflection and identifies impactful experiences. We sought to determine whether reflective writing could be used as a clerkship needs assessment. METHODS: During their surgical clerkship, medical students submitted "tweet"-format reflections and completed a standardized evaluation. "Tweet" content was analyzed using modified grounded theory methods and coded by valence, content, and reflection. Sub-coding was conducted to compare feedback between "tweets" and evaluations. RESULTS: We analyzed 286 reflections and 214 evaluation comments; 176 "tweets" were reflective (62%). "Tweets" commented on "patient interaction" (53%), "educational experience" (38%), "physician interaction" (26%), and "career decisions" (10%). A significant difference was observed between "tweets" and evaluations with regard to the number that provided feedback on experiences with "critically ill or dying patients." CONCLUSIONS: Reflections provided real-time reactions to impactful clerkship events, notably those involving critically ill or dying patients. This focus on illness may represent an unmet need for discussions related to end of life care. Overall, reflections provided more actionable feedback compared to evaluations.

"Tweet"-Format Writing Is an Effective Tool for Medical Student Reflection.

OBJECTIVE: Reflective writing during medical education allows for professional growth through retrospective analysis of experiential knowledge. However, these writing assignments can pose a challenge to millennial medical students who are more likely to assimilate knowledge through the use of innovative technology and who prefer their data in a concise format. Here, we present a novel, tweet-style reflective writing assignment to better engage the unique skill set of today's medical students. We analyzed the written content partway through the year to determine whether or not the format retains the impact of longer, more structured reflective writing assignments. DESIGN: Surgical clerkship students were required to reflect on 3 distinct experiences through a 140-character written reflection, or tweet. Students were able to submit these assignments at any point during their rotation through a platform available on their smartphone or computer. There were no specifications with regard to content. These reflections were analyzed using modified grounded theory methods. Each tweet was analyzed by 2 individuals to ensure intercoder reliability. Codes were created a priori with respect to positive and negative domains, and type of experience. STETTING: Department of Surgery, Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Brown University, Third Year Medical Student Surgical Clerkship. PARTICIPANTS: Third year medical students at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Brown University. Fifty-six medical students were included in this study. RESULTS: During the first 4 blocks of the 2016-2017 academic year, 56 students rotated through the third year surgical clerkship. One hundred and sixty-eight tweets were collected and coded. Sixty-nine tweets (42%) had a positive valence. Students reflected on the following experiences: patient interaction (54%), surgical education (34%), physician/resident interaction (27%), and career decisions (11%). Overall, 87 (52%) tweets were reflective. Many tweets included emotional reactions to specific experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Using tweet-style reflective writing, students identified and reacted to multiple salient experiences from their surgical clerkship. They reflected on both positive and negative emotions, mostly related to personal interactions with patients, but also associated with their education, their team, and their future career. Based on early analysis of the data, we believe that short format writing can be an effective format for reflection.

Burn scar regeneration with the "SUFA" (Subcision and Fat Grafting) technique. A prospective clinical study.

BACKGROUND: Treatment of burn scars with traditional surgical techniques is challenging due to recurrent contractures. Fat grafting has been previously used in small clinical series and results are often biased by lack of scientific validating methods. Fat grafting in clinical practice is often evaluated for its filler properties and rarely scientifically validated for its potential in dermal regeneration. Animal studies have shown dermal regeneration with new deposition and reorientation of the collagen fiber. Our study aims to apply the validity of in vitro studies to clinical practice. METHODS: Our study prospectively evaluated outcomes in 12 patients treated with the "SUFA" technique (Subcision and Fat Grafting) for debilitating contracted burns scars limiting range of motion. Results were evaluated clinically with the Vancouver scale and by range of motion at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Dermal regeneration was evaluated by looking at dermis thickening using high definition ultrasound and scar remodeling looking at reorientation and new deposition of collagen fibers with hematoxylin-eosin histology and monoclonal antibodies against collagen type 1 and 3. RESULTS: Statistically significant clinical improvements in range of motion of the affected joints was observed (P<0.05). Fat reabsorption occurred with a mean of 40%. Thickening of dermis and redistribution and reorientation of the collagen fibers within the dermis was also demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS: Our results present the first clinical scientific evidence of dermal regeneration in fat grafting. Using monoclonal antibodies and high definition ultrasounds, we demonstrate the first evidence of dermis regeneration in a clinical scenario.

Trauma morning report is the ideal environment to teach and evaluate resident communication and sign-outs in the 80 hour work week.

BACKGROUND: The 80h work week has raised concerns that complications may increase due to multiple sign-outs or poor communication. Trauma Surgery manages complex trauma and acute care surgical patients with rapidly changing physiology, clinical demands and a large volume of data that must be communicated to render safe, effective patient care. Trauma Morning Report format may offer the ideal situation to study and teach sign-outs and resident communication. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Surgery Residents were assessed on a 1-5 scale for their ability to communicate to their fellow residents. This consisted of 10 critical points of the presentation, treatment and workup from the previous night's trauma admissions. Scores were grouped into three areas. Each area was scored out of 15. Area 1 consisted of Initial patient presentation. Area 2 consisted of events in the trauma bay. Area 3 assessed clarity of language and ability to communicate to their fellow residents. The residents were assessed for inclusion of pertinent positive and negative findings, as well as overall clarity of communication. In phase 1, residents were unaware of the evaluation process. Phase 2 followed a series of resident education session about effective communication, sign-out techniques and delineation of evaluation criteria. Phase 3 was a resident-blinded phase which evaluated the sustainability of the improvements in resident communication. RESULTS: 50 patient presentations in phase 1, 200 in phase 2, and 50 presentations in phase 3 were evaluated. Comparisons were made between the Phase 1 and Phase 2 evaluations. Area 1 (initial events) improved from 6.18 to 12.4 out of 15 (p<0.0001). Area 2 (events in the trauma bay) improved from 9.78 to 16.53 (p<0.0077). Area 3 (communication and language) improved from 8.36 to 12.22 out of 15 (P<0.001). Phase 2 to Phase 3 evaluations were similar, showing no deterioration of skills. CONCLUSIONS: Trauma Surgery manages complex surgical patients, with rapidly changing physiologic and clinical demands. Trauma Morning Report, with diverse attendance including surgical attendings and residents in various training years, is the ideal venue for real-time teaching and evaluation of sign-outs and reinforcing good communication skills in residents.

Burn Shock and Resuscitation: Proceedings of a Symposium Conducted at the Meeting of the American Burn Association, Chicago, IL, 21 April 2015.

The Special Interest Groups of the American Burn Association provide a forum for interested members of the multidisciplinary burn team to congregate and discuss matters of mutual interest. At the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Burn Association in Chicago, IL, the Fluid Resuscitation Special Interest Group sponsored a special symposium on burn resuscitation. The purpose of the symposium was to review the history, current status, and future direction of fluid resuscitation of patients with burn shock. The reader will note several themes running through the following presentations. One is the perennial question of the proper role for albumin or other fluid-sparing strategies. Another is the unique characteristics of the pediatric burn patient. A third is the need for multicenter trials of burn resuscitation, while recognizing the obstacles to conducting randomized controlled trials in this setting.

Complicated Burn Resuscitation.

More than 4 decades after the creation of the Brooke and Parkland formulas, burn practitioners still argue about which formula is the best. So it is no surprise that there is no consensus about how to resuscitate a thermally injured patient with a significant comorbidity such as heart failure or cirrhosis or how to resuscitate a patient after an electrical or inhalation injury or a patient whose resuscitation is complicated by renal failure. All of these scenarios share a common theme in that the standard rule book does not apply. All will require highly individualized resuscitations.