The impact of a resident-directed survey on the education curriculum of a university surgical training program

Surgical training programs use various objective and subjective means to evaluate housestaff performance. However it is less clear how to assess the quality of the educational experience the program itself provides. This study examines the use of a resident-directed survey as a means of identifying and rectifying weakness in a surgical training curriculum. Multiple choice questionnaires covering each of 14 senior rotations were prepared by chief residents and distributed to all senior surgical residents in April 1989 (year I). The survey covered factors considered vital to resident education, including operative experience, input into preoperative and postoperative decisions, autonomy, and time demands, and an overall rating (OR) of the educational quality of the rotations. Responses were numerically graded: 1, appropriate; 0, fair; -1, inadequate (or "excessive" for the variable "time demands"). The results, which were presented and discussed at a departmental retreat that spring, prompted specific curriculum changes for the 1989-1990 academic year. An identical survey was conducted the next spring (year II). Major reorganizational changes were made in three of the four negatively rated rotations from year I. The OR for each of the rotations improved dramatically in year II (average increase of 0.64/rotation; p less than 0.05). None of the eight favorably rated rotations in year I suffered a reduction in OR as a result of the changes. Case load, intraoperative involvement, and input in both preoperative and postoperative decisions correlated most frequently with favorable ORs in both years. This study shows that a resident survey is an effective tool for critically assessing the education curriculum of a surgical training program.