What Do We Know About Intraoperative Teaching?: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Growing emphasis on improving surgical trainee performance and competency.
• Need for better understanding of intraoperative teaching characteristics.
• Informing interventions and assessment for surgical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• Identify key characteristics and themes in intraoperative teaching.
• Inform development of effective interventions and assessments.
• Enhance the quality of surgical education in the operating room.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across major medical databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane).
• Inclusion of studies on operating room teaching for residents and fellows.
• Quality assessment using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI).

Main Results:

• 34 studies included from 2101 identified records, categorized into perceptions, best practices, and interventions.
• Intervention studies (n=5) showed efficacy in enhancing faculty teaching behaviors.
• Perception and best practice studies indicated moderate to high evidence strength (MERSQI scores).

Conclusions:

• Interventions positively impact trainee ratings of intraoperative teaching.
• Discrepancies exist between trainee and faculty perceptions of teaching quality and quantity.
• Effective intraoperative teaching frameworks encompass pre-, intra-, and post-operative phases.