General surgery resident robotic training curriculum: evaluation six years after implementation

The surge of robotic surgery over the last decade emphasizes the need for a robotics curriculum during general surgery residency. We hypothesized that the implementation of a robotic surgery resident training curriculum would have a positive impact on the general surgery residency experience during and post-graduation.

Current post-graduate year 1 through 5 residents and previously graduated residents were surveyed regarding their robotic curriculum experience during residency and post-graduation. Additionally, ACGME operative case were analyzed to determine robotic case volume and to compare two different time periods of the robotics curriculum: July 2017-June 2020 (early) and January 2022-June 2023 (late).

Among current residents (n = 44), 19 (43%) responded to the survey regarding their robotic curriculum experience, and 17 (89%) were satisfied with the curriculum. Of the graduated residents (n = 33), 25 (75%) responded to the survey, of which 24 (96%) felt the curriculum prepared them for their future practice. Regarding ACGME case logs, 1,091 robotic cases were performed by current residents, compared to 352 cases between 2017 and 2020. The case averages by PGY-level significantly increased 3.1 times from the early (70.4 cases per PGY level) to the late time period (218.2 cases per PGY level) (p = 0.024).

Overall, our robotics curriculum has had a positive impact on resident training. Current and graduated residents are satisfied with the curriculum; there has also been significant growth in the operative case volume. This study suggests that a robotic training curriculum has value during residency and in clinical practice.