Table 6.
Perceptions of residents compared with program directors
| Residents’ perceptions compared with program directors | Mean percent of time allocated to domain | 95% confidence interval | p value* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents (SD) (n = 231) | Program directors (SD) (n = 55) | Mean difference | ||||
| Current resident responsibilities | ||||||
| 1 | Operating or performing procedures | 27.4 (8.5) | 28.3 (12.9) | −0.8 | −3.63 to 2.01 | 0.572 |
| 2 | Evaluating patients in a clinical setting | 23.3 (7.5) | 21.1 (8.8) | 2.2 | −0.13 to 4.43 | 0.065 |
| 3 | Caring for inpatients in the hospital | 14.0 (8.1) | 14.9 (11.5) | −0.9 | −3.50 to 1.72 | 0.503 |
| 4 | Evaluating patients in an acute care/emergency department setting | 8.1 (4.4) | 8.9 (6.7) | −0.8 | −2.30 to 0.62 | 0.257 |
| 5 | Independent studying or preparing for surgery/clinic/lectures | 8.1 (4.6) | 8.3 (5.4) | −0.2 | −1.55 to 1.25 | 0.833 |
| 6 | Attending formal lectures/courses | 5.4 (2.9) | 4.9 (2.5) | 0.5 | −0.39 to 1.29 | 0.293 |
| 7 | Answering patient phone calls/messages/questions/etc outside of clinical setting | 3.2 (3.1) | 2.6 (2.9) | 0.6 | −0.34 to 1.48 | 0.220 |
| 8 | Completing paperwork (prescriptions, disability, insurance forms, duty hours, etc) | 4.4 (4.1) | 3.6 (4.1) | 0.8 | −0.40 to 2.04 | 0.187 |
| 9 | Conducting clinical or basic science research | 3.7 (2.9) | 4.8 (4.4) | −1.1 | −2.03 to −0.13 | 0.027 |
| 10 | Deliberate practice of surgical skills outside of the operating room setting | 1.8 (2.1) | 2.5 (3.5) | −0.7 | −1.39 to 0.03 | 0.062 |
| 11 | Other | 0.7 (2.8) | 0.2 (0.7) | 0.5 | −0.28 to 1.20 | 0.225 |
| Current resident roles in the operating room | ||||||
| 1 | Primary surgeon (making surgical decisions and performing the operation) | 22.3 (16.3) | 34.0 (29.0) | −11.8 | −17.48 to −6.04 | < 0.001† |
| 2 | First assistant | 48.7 (18.7) | 45.1 (21.2) | 3.6 | −2.10 to 9.26 | 0.216 |
| 3 | Second assistant | 26.8 (16.5) | 18.7 (27.8) | 8.1 | 2.41−13.75 | 0.005 |
| 4 | Observation only (not scrubbed in) | 2.3 (5.5) | 2.2 (9.1) | 0.1 | −1.77 to 1.99 | 0.909 |
| Ideal resident responsibilities | ||||||
| 1 | Operating or performing procedures | 40.3 (10.2) | 32.6 (14.6) | 7.7 | 4.42−11.04 | < 0.001† |
| 2 | Evaluating patients in a clinical setting | 20.2 (6.9) | 23.0 (12.3) | −2.8 | −5.19 to −0.33 | 2.026 |
| 3 | Caring for inpatients in the hospital | 8.5 (4.8) | 12.0 (8.3) | −3.6 | −5.22 to −1.90 | < 0.001† |
| 4 | Evaluating patients in an acute care/emergency department setting | 7.9 (4.1) | 9.0 (5.2) | −1.1 | −2.35 to 0.19 | 0.095 |
| 5 | Independent studying or preparing for surgery/clinic/lectures | 8.0 (4.1) | 6.9 (6.2) | 1.1 | −0.26 to 2.44 | 0.114 |
| 6 | Attending formal lectures/courses | 5.1 (2.6) | 3.7 (2.4) | 1.4 | 0.60−2.14 | < 0.001† |
| 7 | Answering patient phone calls/messages/questions/etc outside of clinical setting | 0.7 (1.5) | 1.4 (1.9) | −0.6 | 1.12 to −0.18 | 0.007 |
| 8 | Completing paperwork prescriptions, disability, insurance forms, duty hours, etc) | 0.8 (1.6) | 1.5 (1.9) | −0.7 | −1.16 to −0.18 | 0.008 |
| 9 | Conducting clinical or basic science research | 4.8 (3.4) | 5.7 (5.8) | −1.0 | −2.15 to 0.21 | 0.106 |
| 10 | Deliberate practice of surgical skills outside of the operating room setting | 3.7 (3.2) | 4.0 (5.2) | −0.3 | −1.40 to 0.76 | 0.560 |
| 11 | Other | 0.1 (0.6) | 0.3 (1.1) | −0.2 | −0.39 to 0.01 | 0.061 |
| Ideal resident roles in the operating room | ||||||
| 1 | Primary surgeon making surgical decisions and performing the operation) | 47.1 (20.4) | 43.3 (31.8) | 3.9 | −2.93 to 10.67 | 0.264 |
| 2 | First assistant | 44.1 (19.6) | 40.1 (21.2) | 4.0 | −1.88 to 9.90 | 0.181 |
| 3 | Second assistant | 7.8 (12.0) | 13.6 (25.1) | −5.9 | −10.43 to −1.35 | 0.011 |
| 4 | Observation only (not scrubbed in) | 1.1 (4.6) | 2.0 (6.4) | −0.9 | −2.37 to 0.57 | 0.229 |
* Comparisons made between means of residents and program directors using t-test; †only p values < 0.001 are considered to represent statistical significance.