Menopause education: needs assessment of American obstetrics and gynecology residents.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to understand the current teaching of menopause medicine in American obstetrics and gynecology residency programs. METHODS: A Web-based survey was e-mailed to all American obstetrics and gynecology residency directors, with a request that they forward it to their residents. RESULTS: Of 258 residency program directors contacted, 79 (30.6%) confirmed forwarding the survey. In all, 1,799 people received the survey, with 510 completions, for a response rate of 28.3%. Most residents reported that they had limited knowledge and needed to learn more about these aspects of menopause medicine: pathophysiology of menopause symptoms (67.1%), hormone therapy (68.1%), nonhormone therapy (79.0%), bone health (66.1%), cardiovascular disease (71.7%), and metabolic syndrome (69.5%). Among fourth-year residents who will be entering clinical practice soon, a large proportion also reported a need to learn more in these areas: pathophysiology of menopause symptoms (45.9%), hormone therapy (54.2%), nonhormone therapy (69.4%), bone health (54.2%), cardiovascular disease (64.3%), and metabolic syndrome (63.8%). When asked to rate the most preferred modalities for learning about menopause, the top choice was supervised clinics (53.2%), followed by case presentations (22.2%), formal lectures (21.3%), small groups (14.7%), Web-based learning (7.8%), and independent reading (5.2%). Only 20.8% of residents reported that their program had a formal menopause medicine learning curriculum, and 16.3% had a defined menopause clinic as part of their residency. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that some American residency programs do not fulfill the educational goals of their residents in menopause medicine. A curriculum would be beneficial for increasing knowledge and clinical experience on menopause issues.

Disparity between resident and attending physician perceptions of intraoperative supervision and education.

BACKGROUND: As part of an ongoing evaluation of our residency program, a needs assessment was performed to assess resident and attending perspectives on current methods of surgical skills training in the operating room. METHODS: Participants included obstetrics-gynecology residents and faculty at a university program. Two surveys were developed and validated. Results were analyzed with 2-sample t tests, comparing Likert scores. Findings were significant if the difference between means was >1. RESULTS: Thirty of 31 residents and 40 of 60 attending physicians responded to the survey. Residents and attending physicians agreed that the surgical skills training program needs improvement (difference in mean, -0.39; confidence interval [CI]: -0.98 to 0.20). The areas of most disagreement were regarding feedback on surgical skills and instrument handling (difference in mean, 2.53; CI: 1.81-3.26, and difference in mean, 2.24; CI: 1.44-3.05). CONCLUSIONS: A significant proportion of surgical skills training during residency occurs as on-the-job training, and operating room time provides a key learning opportunity. This report demonstrates that there is a noteworthy difference in the perception of attending physicians and residents about the quality of teaching and feedback that is currently occurring in the operating room. The difference in perspectives among residents and attending physicians reported in this survey suggests a need for improved communication and systematic feedback in order to capitalize on operating room time as a critical surgical skills training arena.