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Home > Vascular Annual Meeting^® > PP28. General Surgery Resident Participation Validates...

PP28. General Surgery Resident Participation Validates Vascular Surgery SCORE Curriculum

Matthew J. Sideman, Kevin E. Taubman, Thomas A. Broughan
University of Oklahoma, College of Medicine, Tulsa, Tulsa, OK

OBJECTIVES: The Surgical Council on Resident Education (SCORE) published their patient care curriculum in April 2008. It has been met with controversy. The SCORE Curriculum decreases the vascular skill level of general surgery residents. We have described our observation of diminishing resident participation in vascular surgery. We hypothesized that residents continue to participate in SCORE cases.

METHODS: A retrospective review of the Vascular Surgery database from July 2002 thru June 2008 was done to evaluate the type of case and resident involvement. A subset of vascular cases that residents are supposed to master according to the SCORE curriculum was analyzed. The percentage of all vascular cases and SCORE vascular cases with resident participation was then compared over time by academic years and evaluated.

RESULTS: A precipitous drop in resident coverage of all vascular surgery cases was observed. Resident participation was 98.2%, 82.6%, 94.4%, 84.2%, 74.6%, and 62.6% over the study period. Among SCORE cases, the percentage of resident participation was 100%, 76.7%, 100%, 97.1%, 87.9%, and 89.9%. Regression analysis shows a steep decline for all vascular cases but statistically no change for SCORE.

CONCLUSIONS: In our training program, the residents have free will to cover whichever cases they desire. Other than the RRC defined category requirements for 44 vascular cases, they are not obligated to cover any other vascular surgeries. In our experience, a decline in the coverage of vascular cases by general surgery residents has occurred. No such decline has happened when separating out the SCORE subset. This validates the SCORE curriculum and has important implications for training future vascular surgeons.

AUTHOR DISCLOSURES: M.J. Sideman, None; K.E. Taubman, None; T.A. Broughan, None.

Figure 1.