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Faculty entrustment of residents in the operating room: the role for surgical simulation

Global Surgical Education - Journal of the Association for Surgical Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

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Abstract

Purpose

Hands-on operative experience is critical for surgical trainees to achieve proficiency. However, faculty entrustment of residents in the operating room (OR) is variable. We sought to understand faculty perceptions of how participating in surgical simulation influenced entrustment of residents.

Methods

This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study included surgical faculty who participated as raters or instructors during two simulation sessions: a basic surgical skills assessment for surgical interns and a robotic cholecystectomy for second- and third-year General Surgery residents. Faculty completed post-session surveys on simulation and entrustment. Responses were summarized descriptively. A subset of faculty participated in semi-structured interviews, which probed survey responses. Interviews were transcribed, codes identified using an inductive approach, and themes generated.

Results

Of 16 faculty who participated in the two simulations, 15 (94%) responded to the post-session survey. Majority of respondents perceived that resident performance during simulation exceeded their expectations; that the simulation helped their understanding of resident competency; that the simulation will affect their entrustment of residents in the OR; and that they will feel more comfortable with residents in their OR after the simulation. Interviews revealed two themes: 1) impact of knowledge on faculty entrustment of residents and 2) limitations of simulation.

Conclusion

Faculty participation in simulation sessions as assessors and/or instructors may play a role in clarifying faculty understanding of resident competency level, informing decisions around entrustment, and instilling a sense of confidence in faculty.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

No outside funding was received for this work.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Anya L. Greenberg and Katherine E. Barnes are co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Anya L. Greenberg, Katherine E. Barnes, Shareef M. Syed, Joseph H. Rapp, Adnan Alseidi, Patricia S. O’Sullivan & Hueylan Chern

  2. Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Patricia S. O’Sullivan

Authors
  1. Anya L. Greenberg
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  2. Katherine E. Barnes
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  3. Shareef M. Syed
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  7. Hueylan Chern
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Contributions

Study conception and design: HC, PSO'S; acquisition of data: HC, PSO'S and ALG; analysis and interpretation of data: HC, PSOS, ALG, and KEB; drafting of manuscript: KEB and ALG; review and editing: HC, PSO'S, AA, JHR, SMS, KEB, and ALG.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hueylan Chern.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval

This study was reviewed by our Institutional Review Board (study # 22–37166) and was granted exempt status.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Supplementary Information

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Supplementary file1 (DOCX 13 KB)

Supplementary file2 (DOCX 14 KB)

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Greenberg, A.L., Barnes, K.E., Syed, S.M. et al. Faculty entrustment of residents in the operating room: the role for surgical simulation. Global Surg Educ 2, 48 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44186-023-00128-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44186-023-00128-2

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