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Are graduating residents sufficiently competent? Results of a national gap analysis survey of program directors and graduating residents in Japan

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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the self-assessed competency of graduating residents (GRs) in Japan upon completion of their residency and to identify the gap between their competency and the competency expected by their program directors (PDs).

Method

A list of 31 essential surgical procedures was compiled according to the consensus of surgical educators from around the country. A survey with this list was sent to all 909 GRs and their 611 PDs in 2016. The GRs rated their competency to perform these procedures and the PDs were asked to evaluate the expected competency of their GRs using the Zwisch Scale.

Result

The response rate was 56.3% for the GRs and 76.8% for the PDs. Fewer than half of the GRs who responded felt confident performing ten (32%) of the surgical procedures evaluated. For most procedures, the GRs’ self-reported competency was lower than the expectation reported by their PDs. This gap was more than 10% for 13 of the procedures.

Conclusion

More than half of the GRs in Japan lacked the confidence in their skill to perform one-third of the surgical procedures selected for evaluation in this study. These findings should be used to update the surgical education curriculum in Japan.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Association of Surgical Education, Surgical Education Research Fellowship (SERF) program for supporting Dr Saseem Poudel during this project. We thank all of the individuals who participated in this survey. We also thank Hidetaka Suzuki, Takamichi Sugiyama, Suguru Kuramochi, Azumi Hirano, and the other staff members of the Japan Surgical Society Secretariat for providing us with logistical support during this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery II, Hokkaido University Faculty of Medicine, Kita 15 Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Japan

    Saseem Poudel, Satoshi Hirano & Yo Kurashima

  2. Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, USA

    Dimitrios Stefanidis

  3. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan

    Hirotoshi Akiyama

  4. Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan

    Susumu Eguchi

  5. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kumamoto University Hospital, Kumamoto, Japan

    Toshihiro Fukui

  6. Department of Surgery, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan

    Masaru Hagiwara

  7. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

    Daisuke Hashimoto

  8. Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Koya Hida

  9. Department of Pediatric Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Tomoko Izaki

  10. Department of Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

    Hirotaka Iwase

  11. Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Sendai, Japan

    Shunsuke Kawamoto

  12. Trauma and Acute Critical Care Medical Center, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Yasuhiro Otomo

  13. Department of Surgery and Oncology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Eishi Nagai

  14. Department of Breast Oncology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Mitsue Saito

  15. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

    Hideki Takami & Yasuhiro Kodera

  16. Division of Medical Education, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuko Takeda

  17. Department of Breast Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Masakazu Toi

  18. Second Department of Surgery, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan

    Hiroki Yamaue

  19. Department of Medical Education, Graduate School of Medicine, International University of Health and Welfare, Narita, Japan

    Motofumi Yoshida

  20. Department of Thoracic Surgery, International University of Health and Welfare School of Medicine, Narita, Japan

    Shigetoshi Yoshida

Authors
  1. Saseem Poudel
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  2. Satoshi Hirano
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  3. Yo Kurashima
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  4. Dimitrios Stefanidis
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  5. Hirotoshi Akiyama
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  6. Susumu Eguchi
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  7. Toshihiro Fukui
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  8. Masaru Hagiwara
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  9. Daisuke Hashimoto
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  10. Koya Hida
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  11. Tomoko Izaki
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  12. Hirotaka Iwase
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  13. Shunsuke Kawamoto
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  14. Yasuhiro Otomo
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  15. Eishi Nagai
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  16. Mitsue Saito
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  17. Hideki Takami
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  18. Yuko Takeda
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  19. Masakazu Toi
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  20. Hiroki Yamaue
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  21. Motofumi Yoshida
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  22. Shigetoshi Yoshida
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  23. Yasuhiro Kodera
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Consortia

Japan Surgical Society Residency Curriculum Review Working Group

Japan Surgical Society Education Committee

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Satoshi Hirano.

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Conflict of interest

Authors Saseem Poudel and the co-authors of this study have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Poudel, S., Hirano, S., Kurashima, Y. et al. Are graduating residents sufficiently competent? Results of a national gap analysis survey of program directors and graduating residents in Japan. Surg Today 50, 995–1001 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-020-01981-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-020-01981-0

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