Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
JOURNAL OF SURGICAL EDUCATION, cilt.81, sa.12, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
OBJECTIVE: General surgery is a fundamental medical discipline that requires extensive training to develop competent surgeons. This study examines the impact of the number of residents on surgical training quality in a general surgery clinic and evaluates the usability of the Surgery-to-Resident Ratio (SRR) in determining the ideal number of residents. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis. SETTING: General Surgery Department, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. PARTICIPANTS: Data from surgical residents at the General Surgery Department, collected from 2012 to 2023. METHODS: The study analyzed the number of surgeries performed and the total number of residents in 3-month periods. The Surgery-Resident Ratio (SRR) was calculated by dividing the total number of surgical procedures by the total number of residents. The educational impact of the SRR was assessed to identify the optimal number of residents. RESULTS: In the 48 periods analyzed, the number of residents in our clinic varied between 12 and 26, with an average of 18.69. An increase in the number of residents led to a decrease in the total number of surgical cases per resident, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a significant drop in elective surgeries. Excluding the COVID-19 periods, the SRR decreased significantly with more than 19 residents, suggesting that the ideal number of residents is 18 to maintain training quality. DISCUSSION: The study indicates that an optimal number of residents is essential for ensuring adequate case exposure and workload distribution, which are crucial for developing surgical competence. The SRR can serve as a useful guide for clinics in determining the ideal number of residents to maintain high training standards. Our findings suggest that while the number 18 is specific to our clinic, the SRR method can be adapted to other settings to ensure effective surgical education. CONCLUSION: The SRR method provides a systematic approach to determining the optimal number of residents in a surgical training program. Ensuring an adequate number of surgeries per resident is vital for their educational development and proficiency in surgical techniques. ( J Surg Ed 81:1-6.- 6. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Association of Program Directors in Surgery. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/))