Clinical Challenges in Surgical Education: Competency-Based Education

Surgical training is evolving, and with advancing surgical techniques, the traditional “time-served” model of residency may not best serve the needs of our learners or patients.  In this episode, we discuss recent efforts at the Indiana University surgical education program to implement a comprehensive laparoscopic cholecystectomy that utilizes all of the best practices of competency-based education.  We’re joined by first author Dr. Betsy Huffman, along with her mentors Drs. Jennifer Choi, Matthew Ritter, and Dimitrios Stefanidis for a practical review of their pioneering work. 

Learning Objectives:
·       Review challenges to the current paradigm of surgical education
·       Define competency-based education
·       Discuss practical challenges facing surgical educators when implementing new curricula

References:
A competency-based laparoscopic cholecystectomy curriculum significantly improves
general surgery residents’ operative performance and decreases skill variability – https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000004853 

Ad referenced in episode: A team at the Brooke Army Medical Center is working to better define proficiency-based metrics for competency in commonly performed general surgery procedures. If you are a PGY4/5 general surgery resident or practicing surgeon who performs robotic assisted cholecystectomies or inguinal hernia repairs, reach out to the PI, Robert Laverty, MD, at rblaverty@gmail.com, for more information on how you could be compensated up to $400 for recording and submitting those videos.

Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.  

If you liked this episode, check out additional BTK surgical education episodes here: https://behindtheknife.org/podcast-category/surgical-education/