Evaluating Surgical Residents Quickly and Easily Against the Milestones Using Electronic Formative Feedback

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Performance Evaluation Systems

Background:

• Traditional resident evaluations often lack detailed performance feedback.
• Milestone-based assessments require robust, objective performance data.
• Electronic systems offer potential for improved efficiency and data capture.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a novel electronic web-based review system (QuickNotes) for evaluating general surgery resident performance.
• To compare resident and faculty satisfaction levels before and after QuickNotes implementation.
• To determine if QuickNotes aids in milestone progression assessment.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective survey of 12 general surgery faculty and 17 residents at a tertiary care teaching hospital.
• Surveys assessed satisfaction levels using a 5-point scale before and after QuickNotes adoption.
• Data analysis focused on weighted average improvements in satisfaction metrics.

Main Results:

• Weighted average satisfaction improvements ranged from 10-40% for faculty and 5-73% for residents.
• Significant increases noted in overall satisfaction, reflection of criteria, and feedback provision.
• Faculty satisfaction with feedback frequency (4.25) and resident satisfaction with positive feedback (4.24) were highest.

Conclusions:

• QuickNotes implementation is associated with increased faculty and resident satisfaction in performance evaluations.
• The web-based, user-friendly system integrates well into resident training.
• Monthly QuickNotes reports complement traditional evaluations for trend analysis and personalized education plans.