• Vascular Annual Meeting
• Future Meeting Dates
• Past Meeting Information
• Contact Us

Competency of General Surgery Residents to Perform Vascular Procedures: Expectations of Vascular Surgery and General Surgery Program Directors and Trainees

Marc E. Mitchell¹, Laura R. Vick¹, Anton N. Sidawy^2,3,4, Karen R. Borman.^1
1University of Mississippi, Jackson, Miss.;²VA Medical Center, Washington, D.C.;³Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.;⁴George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

OBJECTIVES: The level of competence to which general surgery residents (GSR) can and should be trained to perform vascular surgical procedures has become increasingly controversial. This study compares the expectations of vascular surgery program directors (VSPD), general surgery program directors (GSPD), vascular fellows (VF) and GSR regarding the level of competency of finishing GSR to perform vascular procedures.

METHODS: VSPD, GSPD, VF and GSR scored the competency levels for finishing GSR with 77 vascular procedures as A - competent to perform, B - familiar with but not competent to perform, C - not familiar with or competent to perform. Answers were given numerical values (A=100, B=50, C=0). For each group of respondents, mean scores were determined for each procedure and procedures were grouped into nine procedural categories. A score >75 indicated that the majority of respondents expect competence (A), a score <25 denoted a majority expectation of neither competence nor familiarity (C), and an intermediate score indicated an expectation of familiarity but not competence (B). VSPD, GSPD and VF responded to internet based surveys and GSR from two programs answered locally based surveys.

RESULTS: VSPD and VF expected neither competence nor familiarity by GSR with 38% and 42% of procedures respectively. GSPD and GSR expected at least familiarity with all procedures and competence with 22% and 26% of procedures. VSPD and VF expected GSR competence with only 12% and 10% of procedures.

GSR expected the highest level of competence for all procedural categories, while VF expected the lowest. GSPD expectations exceeded those of VSPD for all categories. Amputation, trauma and access received the highest category scores from all respondents, and had the greatest concurrence. Endovascular and cerebrovascular received the lowest scores. Cerebrovascular and aneurysm showed the widest variation.

CONCLUSIONS: Expectations of competence by finishing GSR with vascular operations vary substantially between VSPD, GSPD, VF and GSR. Expectations are highest for GSR, followed by GSPD, VSPD and VF. Most VSPD and GSPD expect that GSR will become familiar with but not competent to perform most major vascular procedures. These data have implications for GSR curriculum development and for vascular procedure credentialing.

AUTHOR DISCLOSURES: M.E. Mitchell, None; L.R. Vick, None; A.N. Sidawy, None; K.R. Borman, None.