Do resident's leadership skills relate to ratings of technical skill?

Abstract

General surgery research residents' intraoperative leadership skills showed significant correlations to their perceptions of skill decay and task difficulty during a bowel repair. Evaluating resident's directional instructions may provide an additional individualized intraoperative assessment metric. Further evaluation relating to operative performance outcomes is warranted.

Leadership and surgical training part 1: preparing to lead the way?

“…One study showed team leadership significantly decreases over the course of simulated scenarios 36 and Gannon et al . found trainees give more directional instruction in cases perceived as less difficult, suggesting increasing cognitive load decreases leadership behaviour 40 . Both of these studies suggest cognitive overload and fatigue are important factors for surgeons to recognize as leaders, but these are unassessed aspects of self‐ or situational awareness.…”

Decay of Competence with Extended Research Absences During Residency Training: A Scoping Review

“…Specifically, returning residents perceived a reduction in technical skills as the second greatest reduction in global clinical skills following knowledge of procedure steps, whereas returning residents rated technical skills as the greatest skill reduction ( p < 0.05; Table 3). As part of a larger longitudinal study by the same research group at the University of Wisconsin, Gannon et al (2016) compared self-perceptions of general surgery research residents’ ( n = 36) technical and non-technical skill decay to observed performance of leadership skills through use of an operative assistant during a simulated bowel repair [30]. On average, residents had spent eight months in dedicated research leave.…”

“…In Gannon et al’s (2016) study, dialogue between a resident and an operative assistant was coded to identify the number of directional instructions provided during the simulated bovine bowel repair [30]. This was compared to measures of self-efficacy via a questionnaire.…”

“…For example, a senior resident who has not interrupted their clinical training is often able to delegate parts or all of a less complex procedure to their junior colleague. However, skill decay in a resident returning from research training results in a need for extra practice, and thus the returning resident is unable to afford their junior colleague the same opportunity as when working with a technically stronger resident [30]. Not only might this create a culture of resentment toward working with research residents, but it may also delay the skill acquisition of junior learners if a program has a significant number of residents returning from research.…”