Assessing trainee impact on operative time for common general surgical procedures in ACS-NSQIP.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To examine the effect of surgical trainee involvement on operative time for common surgical procedures. Laparoscopic appendectomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and open inguinal hernia repair comprise 17.7% of the total cases sampled in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database. These cases are commonly performed by residents at varying levels of surgical training.

STUDY DESIGN:

A cross-sectional study was performed using American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data from 2005 through 2008 selecting patients undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and open inguinal hernia repair. The primary outcome was operative time and predictive variables were resident involvement and training level. Linear regression analysis was used to compare operative times between cases performed by an attending alone and those assisted by junior (postgraduate year 1-2) or senior (postgraduate year 3-5) trainees, adjusting for patient and operative factors.

RESULTS:

A total of 115,535 surgical cases were included, with 65,364 (59%) performed with junior or senior surgical residents. Resident participation was associated with higher operative times with no significant differences between the junior and senior cohorts; this effect persisted after controlling for potential confounding factors. Operative time increased by 16.6 minutes (95% confidence interval, 16.2-17.0) for junior residents and also by 16.6 minutes (95% confidence interval, 16.2-16.9) for senior residents.

CONCLUSIONS:

Surgical trainees' participation in common surgical procedures is associated with an increase in total operative time, with no difference between trainee seniority levels. This finding may be significant in assessing the impact of residency training programs on hospital efficiency.

• Authors: Dominic Papandria, Daniel Rhee, Gezzer Ortega, Yiyi Zhang, Amany Gorgy, Martin A Makary, Fizan Abdullah
• Journal: Journal of surgical education (J Surg Educ) 2012 Mar-Apr Vol. 69 Issue 2 Pg. 149-55 ISSN: 1878-7452 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 22365858 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2012 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Adult
• Appendectomy (education)
• Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic (education)
• Clinical Competence
• Confidence Intervals
• Cross-Sectional Studies
• Education, Medical, Graduate (methods, statistics & numerical data)
• Female
• General Surgery (education, statistics & numerical data)
• Hernia, Inguinal (surgery)
• Herniorrhaphy (education)
• Humans
• Internship and Residency (organization & administration)
• Laparoscopy (education)
• Laparotomy (education)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Problem-Based Learning
• Quality of Health Care
• Time Factors
• United States
• Young Adult