BACKGROUND: We calculated the time a resident spent to acquire the average operative experience before mandated duty hours, to generate a standard for curriculum redesign. METHODS: By using data from 2002 to 2003 furnished by the Residency Review Committee for Surgery, and the operation times of attending surgeons in a hospital consortium, the time devoted to operative surgery over 5 years of training were calculated. RESULTS: An average of 2753 hours or 14.3% of 19,200 hours (5 years of 80-hour work weeks) were spent as a chief surgeon, 272 hours as an assistant, and another 938 hours for immediate preoperative and postoperative attendance. The average total time for operative training was 3963 hours or 20.6% of 5 years of 80-hour weeks (16.5 h/wk). CONCLUSIONS: The database is useful for redesigning the surgical curriculum for the mandated duty hours. It also may be used to determine rapidly if a program currently is providing sufficient time for operative surgery.
BACKGROUND: We calculated the time a resident spent to acquire the average operative experience before mandated duty hours, to generate a standard for curriculum redesign. METHODS: By using data from 2002 to 2003 furnished by the Residency Review Committee for Surgery, and the operation times of attending surgeons in a hospital consortium, the time devoted to operative surgery over 5 years of training were calculated. RESULTS: An average of 2753 hours or 14.3% of 19,200 hours (5 years of 80-hour work weeks) were spent as a chief surgeon, 272 hours as an assistant, and another 938 hours for immediate preoperative and postoperative attendance. The average total time for operative training was 3963 hours or 20.6% of 5 years of 80-hour weeks (16.5 h/wk). CONCLUSIONS: The database is useful for redesigning the surgical curriculum for the mandated duty hours. It also may be used to determine rapidly if a program currently is providing sufficient time for operative surgery.
Authors: Chad G Ball; Andrew W Kirkpatrick; David V Feliciano; Richard Reznick; Norman E McSwain Journal: Can J Surg Date: 2008-08 Impact factor: 2.089