Selection bias: Examining the feasibility, utility, and participant receptivity to incorporating simulation into the general surgery residency selection process.

BACKGROUND: Opportunities exist to revise the current residency selection process to capture desirable candidate competencies. We examined the extent to which components of the American College of Surgeons/Association for Surgical Education simulation-based medical student curriculum combined with a teamwork activity could be used as potential screening method. METHODS: Students participated in a workshop consisting of training/evaluation of knot tying, suturing, airway management, gowning/gloving, and teamwork. Surveys were given to medical students (MS) and faculty/resident/staff (FRS) to examine their opinions about the residency screening process, the most critical competencies to assess, and the effectiveness of each station for candidate evaluation. RESULTS: Communication (FRS, 4.86 ± .35; MS, 4.93 ± .26), leadership (FRS, 4.41 ± .80; MS, 4.5 ± .76), judgment (FRS, 4.62 ± .74; MS, 4.67 ± .62), professionalism (FRS, 4.64 ± .73; MS, 5.00 ± .00), integrity (FRS, 4.71 ± .78; MS, 4.87 ± .35), and grit/resilience (FRS, 4.71 ± .78; MS, 4.53 ± .74) were considered most valuable for candidate screening. The simulation-based curriculum for evaluation of residency candidates was rated lowest by both groups. Open response comments indicated positive perceptions of this process. CONCLUSIONS: Employing simulation to assess candidates may be most beneficial for examining nontechnical attributes. Future work should continue to explore this area.

Sustained Increased Entry of Medical Students into Surgical Careers: A Student-Led Approach.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a surgical interest group run entirely by preclinical students can influence medical students to enter general surgery residency programs. DESIGN: Matriculation rates into general surgery and affiliated subspecialties from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons residency match lists were compared to National Residency Match Program data for all U.S. senior students from 2006 to 2014. SETTING: The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. RESULTS: After establishing the interest group, entrance rates into general surgery programs tripled from the early 2000s to more than 12% of 2006 Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons graduates. After 8 years, our data illustrate sustained results, with more than 8% of students entering surgical residencies, significantly higher than the National Residency Match Program's average (p < 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: Surgical interest groups spark early and lasting interest in surgery that may influence residency decisions. Moreover, these programs can be successfully run entirely by preclinical students and implemented in other institutions.

Perforation in a patient with stercoral colitis and diverticulosis: who did it?

Stercoral colitis with perforation of the colon is an uncommon, yet life-threatening cause of the acute abdomen. No one defining symptom exists for stercoral colitis; it may present asymptomatically or with vague symptoms. Diagnostic delay may result in perforation of the colon resulting in complications, even death. Moreover, stercoral perforation of the colon can also present with localized left lower quadrant abdominal pain masquerading as diverticulitis. Diverticular diseases and stercoral colitis share similar pathophysiology; furthermore, they may coexist, further complicating the diagnostic dilemma. The ability to decide the cause of perforation in a patient with both stercoral colitis and diverticulosis has not been discussed. We, therefore, report this case of stercoral perforation in a patient with diverticulosis and include a discussion of the epidemiology, clinical presentation, and a review of helpful diagnostic clues for a rapid differentiation to allow for accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Is there a place for medical students as teachers in the education of junior residents?

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate a novel resident education model that turns the traditional surgical hierarchy upside down, termed a "reverse" peer-assisted learning curriculum. METHODS: Thirty surgical topics were randomized between medical students and chief residents on each clinical team, with 1 topic being presented briefly during morning rounds. An exam evaluating junior residents' knowledge of these topics was administered before and after 1 month of presentations. A questionnaire was distributed to evaluate the junior residents' perceptions of this teaching model. RESULTS: Thirty-four residents participated. There was a significant improvement in the mean examination score (54 vs 74, P < .05). No significant difference was noted in the mean score differentials of topics presented by either the medical students or the chief resident (21 vs 18, P = .22). More than 80% of the residents responded positively about the effectiveness of this exercise and agreed that they would like to see this model used on other services. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the hypothesis that medical students can teach surgical topics to junior residents at least as effectively as their chief residents.

Limiting PGY 1 residents to 16 hours of duty: review and report of a workshop.

BACKGROUND: In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) instituted limits on duty hours. Residents were restricted to working 80 hours/week and limited to 24 hours of continuous patient care. Effective July 2011, an additional restriction will be instituted for PGY 1 residents limiting continuous duty to 16 hours maximum. OBJECTIVE: Prospective evaluation of the impact of the upcoming work shift limitations for PGY 1 residents. DESIGN/SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Review of literature and discussions among program directors, program coordinators, and residents on the effects of prior limitations of duty hours, as a point of reference, to manage the changes of duty hours for PGY 1 residents during a workshop at the Association of Program Directors in Surgery Annual Meeting. RESULTS: Work-hour restrictions necessitate a change from the traditional 24-hour on-duty call schedule for PGY 1 residents. The benefits to patients of being treated by less tired doctors working in shifts may be offset by communication failures from poor handoffs, rendering the system prone to adverse events/near misses. With additional work-hour restrictions, it is imperative to anticipate problems and deal with them effectively. Continued reevaluation of the handoff system and efforts made to decrease the number of preventable adverse events that typically occur during periods of cross coverage should be undertaken. Labor costs to carry out these new restrictions are predictably high but can be made budget neutral if improvement in patient care leads to reduction in the costs of corrective actions. CONCLUSIONS: Residency programs have adapted to the 2003 work-hour restrictions without apparent ill effect. We must study the effects of the July 2011 requirements prospectively as the traditional frontline physicians (PGY 1 residents) will no longer be available for 24-hour duty shifts.

Assessing the value of the SimPraxis laparoscopic cholecystectomy trainer.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to determine whether the SimPraxis Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Trainer is an effective adjunct for training both junior and senior surgical residents. METHODS: During the 2009-2010 academic year, 20 of 27 surgical residents at our institution completed training with the SimPraxis Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Trainer. These 20 residents took an identical 25-question pre- and posttest prepared in-house by a senior laparoscopic surgeon, based on the SimPraxis Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy program content. Included within the SimPraxis program is a multiple data point scoring system. For our reporting purposes, we divided the residents into 2 groups, junior (PGY 1-2; n = 11) and senior (PGY 3-5; n = 9). RESULTS: The junior residents demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in their post-test scores (P = .001). On the contrary, the senior residents showed nonstatistically significant minor improvement in their examination scores (P = .09). While, the pretest scores were significantly higher for the senior residents compared with the junior residents (P = .003), the post-test scores were nonsignificantly different between the senior vs. the junior residents (P = .07). There was no significant difference between the time it took junior and senior residents to complete the SimPraxis program. CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrate that junior residents benefitted the most from the SimPraxis training program. Requiring junior surgical residents to complete both skills and cognitive training programs may be an effective adjunct in preparation for participation in laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedures.

Usefulness of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in predicting short- and long-term mortality in breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a strong predictor of mortality in patients with colorectal, gastric, hepatocellular, pancreatic, and lung cancer. To date, the utility of NLR to predict mortality in breast cancer patients has not been studied. Therefore, the aim of our study was to determine whether the NLR is predictive of short- and long-term mortality in breast cancer patients. METHODS: Our observational study used an unselected cohort of breast cancer patients treated at the Staten Island University Hospital between January 2004 and December 2006. A total of 316 patients had a differential leukocyte count recorded prior to chemotherapy. Survival status was retrieved from our cancer registry and Social Security death index. Survival analysis, stratified by NLR quartiles, was used to evaluate the predictive value of NLR. RESULTS: Patients in the highest NLR quartile (NLR > 3.3) had higher 1-year (16% vs 0%) and 5-year (44% vs 13%) mortality rates compared with those in the lowest quartile (NLR < 1.8) (P < .0001). Those in the highest NLR quartile were statistically significantly older and had more advanced stages of cancer. After adjusting for the factors affecting the mortality and/or NLR (using two multivariate models), NLR level > 3.3 remained an independent significant predictor of mortality in both models (hazard ratio 3.13, P = .01) (hazard ratio 4.09, P = .002). CONCLUSION: NLR is an independent predictor of short- and long-term mortality in breast cancer patients with NLR > 3.3. We suggest prospective studies to evaluate the NLR as a simple prognostic test for breast cancer.

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of adverse outcomes of acute pancreatitis.

BACKGROUND: Most acute pancreatitis risk scoring systems use total white blood cell counts (WBC) as one of the risk factors. The value of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) to predict the severity of acute pancreatitis has not been previously evaluated. METHODS: This observational study included 283 patients admitted to a tertiary center between 2004 and 2007. The patients were arranged into tertiles according to NLR and WBC values. The primary outcomes were intensive care unit (ICU) admission and length of stay (LOS) in the hospital. RESULTS: According to NLR tertiles, patients in the 3rd tertile (NLR ≥7.6) had significantly more ICU admissions (17 vs. 2.2%, p < 0.0001) and longer average LOS (6.2 vs. 4.2 days, p < 0.002) compared with those in the 1st tertile (NLR <3.6). According to WBC tertiles, patients in the 3rd tertile had more ICU admissions (12.6 vs. 6.2%, p = 0.12) and a longer average LOS (5.8 vs. 4.4 days, p = 0.059) compared to patients in the 1st WBC tertile, but this did not reach statistical significance. In the multivariate model including NLR, WBC and other predictors, only NLR tertiles (p < 0.0262) and modified early warning scores (p < 0.0025) were significant predictors of ICU admission. Likewise, in the multivariate model of LOS, only NLR and glucose level were significant predictors of longer LOS (p < 0.0161 and p < 0.0053, respectively). CONCLUSION: NLR is superior to total WBC in predicting adverse outcomes of acute pancreatitis. According to our data, we suggest using the NLR cutoff value of >4.7 as a simple indicator of severity in patients presenting with acute pancreatitis. and IAP.

Mean platelet volume/platelet count ratio as a predictor of long-term mortality after non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

Previous studies reported an association between elevated mean platelet volume (MPV) and post-myocardial infarction mortality. This study explores the association between long-term mortality after non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and the peripheral blood platelet indices (i.e., the mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet count, and the MPV/platelet (MPV/P) ratio). Two physicians independently reviewed the data of 619 NSTEMI patients. The blood samples were drawn and analyzed within 1 h of admission, the second, and the last hospital days. Patients were stratified into equal tertiles according to the platelet count, MPV, and MPV/platelet ratio. The primary outcome, 4-year all-cause mortality, was compared among the platelet indices tertile models. According to MPV, platelet count, and MPV/platelet ratio tertile models, there was a trend of higher 4-year mortality for the lower and upper tertiles in comparison to the middle tertiles. However, only the admission MPV/platelet ratio tercile model was statistically significant for predicting the 4-year mortality. The mortality rate of the highest MPV/platelet (48/207 (23%)) and the lowest (41/206 (20%)) tertiles were significantly higher than the middle tertile (19/206 (9%)), p = 0.0004 by the chi-squared test. After adjusting for Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events, the patients in the combined first and third MPV/P tertiles had higher mortality in reference to those in the middle MPV/P tercile (hazard ratio 1.951, confidence interval 1.032-3.687, and p < 0.0396). Our novel finding is that the MPV/platelet ratio is superior to the MPV alone in predicting long-term mortality after NSTEMI. We suggest that using this ratio will magnify any existing relationship between platelet indices and mortality post-NSTMI. Further studies are needed to confirm our finding.

John Jones, M.D.: pioneer, patriot, and founder of American surgery.

John Jones was a pioneer of American Surgery. Born in Long Island, New York in 1729, he received his medical degree in France from the University of Rheims. He returned to the colonies and helped to establish the medical school that would later become Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons where he was appointed the first Professor of Surgery in the New World. He used his position to assert that surgeons trained in America should be familiar with all facets of medicine and not be mere technicians. Before the outbreak of the American Revolution, he wrote a surgical field manual, which was the first medical text published in America. A believer in the principles of the American Revolution, he would go on to count Benjamin Franklin and George Washington as his patients. Despite achieving many firsts in American medicine, his influence on surgical training is his most enduring legacy.

Pretransplantation patient characteristics and survival following combined heart and kidney transplantation: an analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing Database.

HYPOTHESIS: Pretransplantation patient characteristics determine survival following combined heart and kidney transplantation (HKT). DESIGN: Time-to-event analysis. SETTING: Academic research. PATIENTS: The United Network for Organ Sharing provided deidentified patient-level data. Analysis included 19,373 heart transplant recipients from January 1, 1995, to December 31, 2005. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to identify pretransplantation recipient characteristics associated with improved long-term survival following HKT. Kaplan-Meier survival functions and Cox proportional hazards regression were used for time-to-event analysis. Using the relative risks calculated in regression analysis, weights were assigned for each risk factor, allowing for the construction of a risk score. RESULTS: Among heart transplant recipients, 264 (1.4%) underwent HKT. Factors associated with diminished survival included peripheral vascular disease, recipient age older than 65 years, nonischemic etiology of heart failure, dialysis dependence at the time of transplantation, and bridge to transplantation using a ventricular assist device. After stratification by risk score, 1-year survival was 93.2% and 61.9% in the lowest- and highest-risk HKT groups, respectively. Further stratification by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was performed based on a previous study showing decreased survival of patients undergoing orthotopic heart transplantation with a preoperative eGFR of less than 33 mL/min. Low-risk patients with an eGFR of less than 33 mL/min undergoing HKT constituted the only group that had significantly better survival compared with isolated patients undergoing orthotopic heart transplantation with eGFRs and risk scores in the same range (P = .006). CONCLUSIONS: When patients were stratified by risk score and by diminished eGFR (<33 mL/min), low-risk HKT recipients with a diminished eGFR had improved survival following HKT over isolated heart transplant recipients. Only low-risk patients with combined kidney failure (eGFR, <33 mL/min) and heart failure seem to gain a survival benefit from HKT.

Does training novices to criteria and does rapid acquisition of skills on laparoscopic simulators have predictive validity or are we just playing video games?

PURPOSE: To determine whether LapSim training (version 3.0; Surgical Science Ltd, Göteborg, Sweden) to criteria for novice PGY1 surgical residents had predictive validity for improvement in the performance of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODS: In all, 21 PGY1 residents performed laparoscopic cholecystectomies in pigs after minimal training; their performance was evaluated by skilled laparoscopic surgeons using the validated tool GOALS (global operative assessment of laparoscopic operative skills: depth perception, bimanual dexterity, efficiency, tissue handling, and overall competence). From the group, 10 residents trained to competency on the LapSim Basic Skills Programs (camera navigation, instrument navigation, coordination, grasping, lifting and grasping, cutting, and clip applying). All 21 PGY1 residents again performed laparoscopic cholecystectomies on pigs; their performance was again evaluated by skilled laparoscopic surgeons using GOALS. Additionally, we studied the rate of learning to determine whether the slow or fast learners on the LapSim performed equivalently when performing actual cholecystectomies in pigs. Finally, 6 categorical residents were tracked, and their clinical performance on all of the laparoscopic cholecystectomies in which they were "surgeon, junior" was prospectively evaluated using the GOALS criteria. RESULTS: We found a statistical improvement of depth perception in the operative performance of cholecystectomies in pigs in the group trained on the LapSim. In the other 4 domains, a trend toward improvement was observed. No correlation between being a fast learner and the ultimate skill was demonstrated in the clinical performance of laparoscopic cholecystectomies. We did find that the fast learners on LapSim all were past or current video game players ("gamers"); however, that background did not translate into better clinical performance. CONCLUSIONS: Using current criteria, we doubt that the time and effort spent training novice PGY1 Surgical Residents on the basic LapSim training programs is justified, as such training to competence lacks predictive validity in most domains of the GOALS program. We are investigating 2 other approaches: more difficult training exercises using the LapSim system and an entirely different approach using haptic technology (ProMis; Haptica Ltd., Ireland), which uses real instruments, with training on realistic 3-dimensional models with real rather than simulated cutting, sewing, and dissection. Although experienced video gamers achieve competency faster than nongamers on LapSim programs, that skill set does not translate into improved clinical performance.