Resident evaluation of surgical faculty.

This study examines the association between resident evaluations of surgical faculty and measures of teaching activity and practice characteristics. Twenty-three of 33 general surgery residents, anonymously and voluntarily rated 62 faculty surgeons in 10 areas of performance. This was repeated 1 year later with 24 of 28 residents and 64 surgeons. Ratings were reliable (test-retest on overall mean rating, r = 0.91, P less than 0.01). Factor analysis of ratings by residents in postgraduate year (PGY) 5 extracted a judgment factor and an interpersonal skills factor. Ratings by other PGYs were unidimensional. Faculty subgroups that performed more than two major procedures per week at the hospital (P less than 0.01) attended the weekly Mortality and Morbidity conference more than once per month (P less than 0.05) and/or published one or more research reports (P less than 0.05) received higher ratings than those who did not. Among general surgeons (n = 35), ratings of interpersonal skill by PGY 5 residents correlated inversely with complication rate (r = -0.41, P less than 0.05) and overall ratings by PGYs 3 and 4 correlated inversely with mean patient length-of-stay (LOS; r = -0.44, P less than 0.05). These remained significant after statistical adjustment for case mix differences and differences in the amount of contact with residents. Resident ratings were unrelated to mean patient age, the mean number of diagnoses per patient, and the mean number of procedures per patient.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)