Operative experience of U.S. general surgery residents in thyroid and parathyroid disease.

BACKGROUND: We wanted to determine whether the experience of general surgery residents is adequate and effective.
METHODS: The Resident Statistic Summaries (Report C) of the Residency Review Committee (Surgery) for 8 academic years from 1986 through 1994 were analyzed. The main outcome measurements were total number of residents and programs, average number of operations performed, maximum number of operations performed, standard deviation, and the most common number of operations performed.
RESULTS: For thyroidectomy the average per resident ranged from 10.3 to 12.6. The maximum ranged from 52 to 102. The standard deviations ranged from 6.96 to 8. The most common number of thyroidectomies performed ranged from 7 to 10 per graduating resident. For parathyroidectomy the average ranged from 4.1 to 5.1, the standard deviations were 3.44 to 4, the maximum ranged from 25 to 60, and the most common number performed was 2.
CONCLUSIONS: U.S. graduates have highly variable experience in thyroid and parathyroid surgery. Most residents have inadequate experience in parathyroid surgery and marginal experience in thyroid surgery.