S/he who can, does and teaches. S/he who cannot, doesn't.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Skills Assessment
• Resident Training

Background:

• The adage 'he who can, does; he who cannot, teaches' is commonly cited.
• This study investigates the validity of this saying in the context of general surgery chief residents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if general surgery chief residents with superior teaching abilities also possess higher technical and cognitive surgical skills.
• To challenge the traditional notion that poor performers become teachers.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of general surgery chief residents from 2009-2013.
• Technical skill assessment using the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) examination.
• Teaching ability evaluation via medical student Likert scale scores and teaching awards (Arnold P. Gold, graduating class surgical teaching award, Alpha Omega Alpha induction).

Main Results:

• Residents who won teaching awards generally outperformed non-winners in the cognitive FLS section (p < 0.05).
• No significant difference in manual skills FLS scores was observed between award recipients and non-recipients for the Arnold P. Gold Award or the graduating class award.
• Residents inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha showed significantly higher FLS manual skills scores than those not inducted (p = 0.01).

Conclusions:

• Superior resident teachers may possess greater content knowledge.
• Evidence suggests a correlation between effective resident teaching and higher laparoscopic skills.