[A prospective, multicentre study on the activity of general and digestive surgery residents based on the use of the...

There are no quantified data on the real activity carried out by residents during the 5 years of training in the specialty of general and digestive surgery (GGS) in Spain. There are also limited data on programs in other surgical specialities, and in other countries. The aim of the study is to estimate the mean overall surgical activity by specific skill areas and by the level of complexity of the Spanish program in the specialty of GGS.

A prospective, observational, multicentre study was performed on the activity of GGS residents in Spain using the Resident Computerised Logbook of the Spanish Surgeons Association (LIR-AEC). Each of the residents registered their own activity supervised by their tutor. The sample period was 6 months. The medians of the annual activity and the period of residency were calculated from the results.

Surgical activity: during the residency, it was estimated that that they attended 1,325 operations, 654 (49%) as lead surgeon. Health care activity: the mean number of times on-call was 5.2±1.8 per month. Activity in outpatient clinics was 548 first visits, and almost double for second visits. Scientific activity: the total number of courses and conferences attended was 34. The estimated mean number of presentations at conferences was 14, with 3 publications.

LIR-AEC is a suitable tool to verify activity in the Spanish GGS Program. These results may be useful for comparing with training programs in other countries and in other surgical specialties.