Independent study and performance on the anesthesiology in-training examination

Intuitively, independent study by residents would be expected to improve performance on the in-training examination (ITE). So far, however, studies that have examined this issue have used historical controls and have not evaluated the amount of personal study and its impact on performance. We therefore examined the relationship between the amount of self-reported time devoted to personal study by 36 clinical anesthesia year 1 and 2 residents at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and their scores on the ITE administered in July 2003. The average time spent in self-study was 8 +/- 3.6 hours per week, and the average scaled score was 28.7 +/- 7.3. Linear regression analysis revealed a positive correlation between hours spent in self-study per week and scaled score performance on the ITE (correlation coefficient = 0.64, P < 0.0001), where the ITE scaled score = (1.3) (hours of self-study per week) + 18.4. Our findings emphasize the importance of personal study by residents. In conjunction with our diverse clinical and didactic experience, these findings indicate that anesthesiology residents who invest a minimum of 10.5 hours of personal study per week are well positioned to achieve a passing score on the ITE.