Impact of a novel education curriculum on surgical training within an academic training program.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
The training of the 21st century surgeon has become increasingly complex with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) core competency requirements and work-hour restrictions. Herein we report the two-year results of a novel problem-based learning education module at a large academic surgery program.

METHODS:
All data were prospectively collected from 2004 to 2006 on all categorical residents in the department of surgery (n = 42). Analysis was performed to identify any correlation between class attendance and American Board of Surgery In-Service Training Exam (ABSITE) score performance (percentile change). All data were reported as a mean with a standard error of the mean. Categorical variables were analyzed using a paired Student's t-test. A bivariate correlation was calculated using Spearman's rho correlation.

RESULTS:
When comparing the 2004 scores (pre-program) to 2006 scores, there was significant score improvement (P <or= 0.05), with a mean increase of 8% on ABSITE scores across all classes. Furthermore, from 2005 to 2006, the mean ABSITE score was stable for all classes with no significant decrease (P = 0.34). Of note, the PGY-4 class had a significant improvement of 15% (P <or= 0.05). Bivariate analysis demonstrated a slight trend toward a significant relationship between class attendance and ABSITE score improvement, however, this did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.15).

CONCLUSION:
A problem-based learning (PBL) based education program can successfully meet the educational goals of a surgical training program. Furthermore, this program has demonstrated consistent results with maintenance of score improvements through a two-year period.

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Author information

Author/s: Lee, Liz (L); Brunicardi, F Charles (FC); Scott, Bradford G (BG); Berger, David H (DH); Bush, Ruth L (RL); Awad, Samir S (SS); Brandt, Mary L (ML);

Affiliation: Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: The Journal of surgical research (J Surg Res), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Apr; vol 145 (issue 2) : pp 308-12

Dates: Created 2008/03/10; Completed 2008/04/17;

PMID: 18262564, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Academic Medical Centers
Accreditation
Competency-Based Education - methods; standards
Educational Measurement
Humans

Humans
Internship and Residency - methods; standards
Models, Educational
Prospective Studies
Surgery - education

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