Abstract
Background
Effective surgical education is key to resident professional and personal development.
There is little literature defining or assessing effective surgical educators and
no common definition of effectiveness in use. The opinion of surgical residents has
never been qualitatively studied. Our aim was to determine what general surgery residents
perceive as qualities of effective surgical educators.
Methods
A qualitative and quantitative study of general surgery senior residents (postgraduate
year [PGY]–4 and –5) at a single tertiary academic institution was performed. In-depth
semistructured interviews were conducted with all senior residents to determine the
overall opinion of effective educators. Thematic analysis was performed using grounded
theory. Participants completed a Likert-based survey to determine which qualities
of an effective educator were (1) most critical and (2) had been most commonly encountered
during training. Institutional review board approval was obtained.
Results
Data saturation occurred after 13 interviews (7 PGY-4, 6 PGY-5). Interviewees described
attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions essential for effective surgical educators. They
described important attributes of the trainee–trainer relationship and learning environment.
On quantitative analysis, excellent communication, promoting a positive learning climate,
timely constructive feedback, and technical expertise were ranked as most critical.
Residents most often encountered educators with excellent communication, who fostered
a positive learning climate, with clinical and technical expertise, and who provided
leadership or mentorship.
Conclusion
General surgery residents believe effective educators recognize the importance of
communication and a positive learning environment, are able to adapt to the learner
or environment, have clinical and technical expertise, and form a bond with their
learner. This framework can inform faculty development programs to improve surgical
education.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to SurgeryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Reliable and valid tools for measuring surgeons’ teaching performance: residents’ vs. self-evaluation.J Surg Educ. 2012; 69: 511-520
- The impact of resident- and self-evaluations on surgeon’s subsequent teaching performance.World J Surg. 2014; 38: 2761-2769
- The current evidence for defining and assessing effectiveness of surgical educators: a systematic review.World J Surg. 2020; 44: 3214-3223
- Ten tips for teaching in the theatre tearoom: shifting the focus from teaching to learning.World J Surg. 2010; 34: 2518-2523
- Master surgeons’ operative teaching philosophies: a qualitative analysis of parallels to learning theory.J Surg Educ. 2012; 69: 493-498
- Attributes of excellent surgical trainers: an analysis of outstanding trainers.Int J Surg. 2018; 52: 371-375
- Qualities and methods of highly effective surgical educators: a grounded theory model.J Surg Educ. 2019; 76: 1293-1302
- Andragogy in Action: Applying Modern Principles of Adult Learning.Jossey-Bass, San Francisco1984
- Applying educational theory in practice.BMJ. 2003; 326: 213-216
- Multimedia Learning.2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, New York2009
- Learning and Instruction.2nd ed. Merrill Prentice Hall Pearson, Upper Saddle River (NJ)2008
- Applying the science of learning to medical education.Med Educ. 2010; 44: 543-549
- Applying the Science of Learning.Pearson, Boston2011
- “Race”.United States Census Bureau. 2020;
Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 01, 2020
Accepted:
April 27,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
