Basic surgical skills testing for junior residents: current views of general surgery program directors.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Residency Programs

Background:

• The American College of Surgeons/Association of Program Directors in Surgery (ACS/APDS) Phase 1 Curriculum emphasizes basic surgical skills evaluation for junior residents.
• Current integration of these evaluations into residency curricula and their impact on resident advancement remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess general surgery Program Directors' (PDs) perceptions regarding the importance of basic surgical skills training and evaluation.
• To understand the current implementation of basic surgical skills assessment in residency programs.

Main Methods:

• Telephone interviews were conducted with 23 general surgery PDs from diverse programs.
• PDs were questioned on their use of and views on basic surgical skills curricula and evaluation methods.

Main Results:

• Only 45% of PDs utilized the ACS/APDS curriculum, with 23% unaware of its existence.
• Formal basic surgical skills evaluation with mandatory remediation occurred in only 18% of programs.
• No PDs would prevent residents with poor basic surgical skills from operating or deny promotion based on these skills.

Conclusions:

• Implementing summative basic surgical skills evaluation requires significant resources for PDs.
• Resources may be more effectively allocated to evaluating the operative skills of senior residents rather than basic skills of junior residents.