C3 - 05: THE SURGICAL RESIDENT AS TEACHER - A REVIEW OF PUBLISHED CURRICULA
Alaina Geary, MD, Donald T Hess, MD, Luise I Pernar, MD; Boston Medical Center

Introduction: Teaching is an important part of surgical training and practice but few residents enter their training with a background in education. The ACGME has incorporated teaching in to the Milestone Project. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) requires that residents are trained to fulfill their educational duties toward medical students. Formal resident-as-teacher programs (RATPs) have been developed across numerous specialties to address this latter mandate. This study aimed to review the literature of RATPs aimed specifically at surgical trainees.  

Methods: Literature Search: A literature search was performed using PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and ERIC. The MeSH terms used were, internship, residency, general surgery, teaching, education, and curriculum. Articles were included based on a priori defined inclusion criteria.  Reference review of included publications was used to identify additional potentially relevant publications. For the publications included in final review, the curriculum components and, if applicable, how the curricula’s success was measured were noted. The quality of the studies was scored using the medical education research study quality instrument (MERSQI).

Results: Seven relevant publications were identified. The average MERSQI score was 9.9 (range 6.5-13.5).  The RATPs were either lecture/session based (4/7) or relied on electronically distributed content (3/7). The most frequently assessed outcome of participation in the program was a change in attitude toward teaching (Kirkpatrick 2). Curricular components that were highly rated or effective included individualized feedback on teaching performance and iterative reminders to make teaching part of practice.

Conclusions: Few published curricula for RATPs in general surgery training exist. While each institution has different resources and constraints when running a RATP, the literature suggests that multi-session interventions, particularly when paired with observation and feedback, are successful. Alternatively, distributing the content electronically is feasible and may be a useful alternative to classroom-based teaching to allow dissemination of RATPs in busy surgical residencies.