Surgical residents and the adequacy of dictated operative reports

Is synoptic operative reporting necessary for Crohn's disease surgery? Variability in surgical reports across inflammatory bowel disease referral centres

“…The limitations of the study include its retrospective study design and lack of data on the level of training of and specialty of the person dictating the operation report. Studies have consistently demonstrated poorer quality of narrative operation reports dictated by residents versus surgical faculty [22][23][24][25]. In addition, although the surgeons involved in choosing important surgical variables are all experienced in CD surgery, they were not agreed upon using a standard Delphi survey [26].…”

Examining the Quality of Rectal Cancer Operative Reports in Teaching Institutions: Is There an Opportunity for Resident Education?

“…They also found that senior residents and attendings included more pertinent information than first and second year residents. 1 Professional coders looked at operative reports from an academic surgical practice and found that 76 per cent contained one or more audit criteria deficiencies. 2 Resident dictated operative reports have also been found to lead to reduced reimbursement by 9.7 per cent.…”

“…Many studies have shown that there is wide variation in the quality of operative reports in general, and also across levels of training, representing a significant area for improvement with regard to perioperative documentation. [1][2][3] The importance of the operative report can be magnified when dealing with cancer surgery, as intraoperative findings may influence adjuvant treatment, and operative technique may impact patient outcomes. This can be true for rectal cancer surgery, which is challenging due to the confines of operating within the pelvis.…”