Assessing the effort associated with teaching residents.

Area of Science:

• Surgical Education
• Plastic Surgery Outcomes
• Operative Efficiency

Background:

• Intraoperative resident education is crucial for training future surgeons.
• The impact of resident involvement on operative time is not well-quantified.
• Understanding teaching time is essential for academic medical centers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the effect of resident presence on operative time in common plastic surgery procedures.
• To analyze operative time differences based on resident involvement using a large dataset.
• To propose methods for recording and reporting surgical teaching time.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 2006-2012 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database.
• Identified seven isolated plastic surgery procedures, categorized by resident involvement.
• Employed linear regression models to assess operative time differences, controlling for patient and operative factors.

Main Results:

• Resident involvement was linked to significantly longer operative times for muscle flap trunk procedures (53 min) and latissimus dorsi flap breast reconstructions (55 min).
• Six out of seven evaluated plastic surgery procedures showed increased operative times when residents were involved.
• Statistical analysis confirmed a significant association between resident participation and extended operative durations.

Conclusions:

• Resident involvement demonstrably increases operative time in specific plastic surgery procedures.
• There is a clear need for quantifiable metrics to assess attending surgeon time dedicated to resident education.
• Further investigation is required to establish the causal relationship between resident involvement and patient care outcomes.