Residents' Experience in Breast Cancer Care

General surgeons commonly treat breast cancer (BC), hence necessitating adequate training during residency. We examined surgery residents' exposure to these conditions across postgraduate years (PGYs) to assess the proximity of involvement to commencement.

We examined the BC operative profile by PGY using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Participant Use File (ACS NSQIP PUF, 2008-2011). Operations were classified using the Surgical Council on Resident Education curriculum complexity categories. Univariate analysis was performed using chi-square, Fisher exact, analysis of variance, and Kruskal-Wallis tests, as appropriate.

Of 58,413 BC operations, 23,996 involved PGY1 to PGY5 residents. A Surgical Council on Resident Education complexity was assigned to 97.7% of operations studied (n = 23,432). PGY was inversely proportional to the number of operations performed. PGY1 to PGY3 residents covered most essential-common operations (PGY1-3, 72% vs PGY4-5, 28%; p < 0.001). PGY1 and PGY2 residents covered more than half of the complex operations (PGY1-2, 55% [n = 359] vs PGY3-5, 45% [n = 288]; p = 0.033).

Although junior residents perform most of the BC cases in surgical residency, residents do participate in operations for BC across the continuum of the training years. Program directors should consider trainees' career aspirations to ensure adequate exposure to the operative and nonoperative management of this common disease before the transition to independent practice.