We Were Residents Once … And Young

Each transition in the trajectory of a career comes with changes, some good, some challenging, and some changes are both. As you prepare to enter a Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Residency (TCV Surgery), or the last few years of an Integrated Six Residency, you are well aware that you are likely embarking on one of the most demanding and challenging eras of your professional life. And, you are likely also aware that, as a TCV Surgery resident, you will have a limited amount of time to approximately double what you know about medicine and surgery. In fact, in these last few years of your formal training you will likely have fewer than 700 days to accumulate this necessary medical and surgical knowledge.

General Surgery Resident Operative Experiences in Solid Organ Injury: An Examination of Case Logs

Background Non-operative management (NOM) of traumatic solid organ injury (SOI) has become commonplace. This paradigm shift, along with reduced resident work hours, has significantly impacted surgical residents’ operative trauma experiences. We examined ongoing changes in residents’ operative SOI experience since duty hour restriction implementation, and assessed whether missed operative experiences were gained elsewhere in the resident experience. Methods We examined data from American College of Graduate Medical Education case log reports from 2003 to 2018. We collected mean case volumes in the categories of non-operative trauma, trauma laparotomy, and splenic, hepatic, and pancreatic trauma operations; case volumes for comparable non-traumatic solid organ operations were also collected. Solid organ injury operative volumes were compared against non-traumatic cases, and change over time was analyzed. Results Over the study period, both trauma laparotomies and non-operative traumas increased significantly ( P < .001). In contrast, operative volumes for splenic, hepatic, and pancreatic trauma all significantly decreased ( P < .001; P = .014; P < .001, respectively). Non-traumatic spleen cases also significantly decreased ( P < .001), but liver cases and distal pancreatectomies increased ( P < .001; P = .017). Pancreaticoduodenectomies increased, albeit not to a significant degree ( P = .052). Conclusions Continuing increases in NOM of SOI correlate with declining resident experience with operative solid organ trauma. These decreases can adversely affect residents’ technical skills and decision-making, although trends in specific non-traumatic areas may help to mitigate such losses. Further work should determine the impact of these trends on resident competence and autonomy.