Hirose-Gram
Dear Surgical Residents,
Greetings from the Surgery Education Office! For those of you who are sports fans, we are in a great time of year – March Madness (congrats Kansas Jayhawks), the Masters (Tiger?), opening day of the baseball season (Vamanos Gigantes!), NBA playoffs (so sad that the Lakers may not participate). The days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, thoughts are turning towards more outdoor activities and celebrations (begone, BA.2!)
Just a few items to note:
ACGME Updates
Thank you all for completing the ACGME survey. We usually receive the results sometime in May and we will review them in our Program Evaluation Committee. We will make the results available to any of you who are interested.
In March, our program received two citations from the ACGME, based on the results of our 2021 survey (i.e. the one taken exactly one year ago):
- Residents feel unable to raise concerns without fear of retaliation or intimidation
- Residents are dissatisfied with feedback from faculty
Of note, we recognized last year that these areas were challenges facing our program, and we have made multiple attempts to improve over the past year. Clearly, there is more work to be done, but we are hopeful that we will see some signs of improvement, particularly in this year's survey results. For anyone who would like to discuss these issues further, whether to provide feedback to the program, or to learn more about what steps we have taken, please feel free to reach out to any of the program leadership (or if preferred, there are confidential resources to provide feedback outside the department that are available).
ABS-Required Operative Assessments
Many of you (particularly the chiefs) may be familiar with the ABS requirement for 6 operative assessments to be performed prior to the completion of residency. In our program, we use the TechSAF (Technical Skills Assessment Form) as the instrument with which we assess technical skills and provide feedback. You should note that the ABS does not require that these assessments be performed during the chief year, nor are they looking for a certain level of performance. We would encourage you to see the TechSAFs not as a box to check off before the completion of residency, but as a mechanism by which you can receive technical skills feedback from faculty in order to improve. Many of you have indicated that technical skill is an area in which you would most like to see improvement in your own performance. The TechSAFs are meant to help provide you information that would be helpful for your technical skills development. For this reason, we encourage you to request these forms at regular intervals for many cases (much more than the ABS requirement of 6) throughout your residency, regardless of your PGY level or your perceived sense of performance. These assessments are not meant to establish a "threshold" level of performance required for graduation. Rather, they are meant to facilitate the delivery of feedback following a case. Of course, they are also not meant to replace immediate, in-person feedback from a faculty member during or after the case.
Technical Tip of the Day
“Your left hand needs to be smarter than your right” (for right handed surgeons). One quality that distinguishes a novice in the operating room from an expert is the use of the non-dominant hand. The right hand needs to be steady, precise, and accurate, as it is usually holding the Bovie, knife, scissors, right angle, or the needle driver. But the right hand only executes what your left hand (and your assistant) shows you. In that way, your left hand needs to be more efficient, more thoughtful, more subtle, in order to get you where you want to go. The left hand needs to understand tension/counter-tension, tissue strength, angles, exposure. The left hand is like the attending surgeon who sets up the case to make the trainee (the right hand) look good. Always be mindful what you are doing with your nondominant hand.
Have a great April!
Yours,
Kenzo Hirose
| 
