[Residency program under scrutiny (part 2)-How do residents prepare for emergency operations?]

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Orthopedic Surgery

Background:

• Postgraduate medical education in trauma and orthopedic surgery focuses on surgical learning.
• Residents face challenges due to varied expectations from trainees and trainers.
• There's a lack of consensus and research on how residents prepare for emergency surgery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how trauma and orthopedic surgery residents prepare for emergency operations.
• To compare the perceived importance of preparation elements with their actual implementation.
• To identify discrepancies between ideal preparation practices and clinical reality.

Main Methods:

• Questionnaires distributed to 255 physicians in trauma and orthopedic surgery across 27 clinics in East Bavaria.
• Participants rated the importance of preparation elements for emergency surgery using a Likert scale.
• Residents documented the extent to which they performed these preparation elements.

Main Results:

• 150 questionnaires were analyzed (59% return rate).
• Key preparation elements identified as most important include discussion with consultants (85.3%), patient examination (80.0%), surgical approach planning (76.0%), and reviewing patient files (68.0%).
• A significant number of participants reported that these crucial preparation steps are not sufficiently performed.

Conclusions:

• Personal preparation for emergency surgery is critically important for residents.
• A gap exists between the importance placed on preparation and its actual execution in clinical settings.
• Structural and organizational factors are likely the primary causes of this discrepancy.