A Novel Operative Coaching Program for General Surgery Chief Residents Improves Operative Efficiency
Open accessAbstract
Introduction We evaluated the effect of an operative coaching (OC) model on general surgery chief residents' operative efficiency (OE) measured by operative times. We hypothesized that higher levels of entrustment surgeons intend to offer resident in future similar cases are associated with improved OE.Materials and methods From July 2018 to June 2019, we used a validated instrument to score prospective resident entrustment in 228 evaluations of 6 chief residents during 12 OC sessions each (3 lap colectomy, 3 lap cholecystectomy, 3 ventral hernia, 3 inguinal hernia). Operative times of matched case CPT codes performed by coached chiefs (N = 500) were matched via CPT code to the cases of uncoached chiefs in the academic year 2016-2017 (N = 478). Statistical analysis was performed using Pearson correlation and one-way ANOVA.Results Prospective entrustment scores from coached chief residents were associated with significantly shorter operative times in matched complex cases (CC) (r = -0.58, p = 0.0047). A similar trend was observed in noncomplex cases (NCC) (r = -0.29, p = 0.18). Compared to the historical cohort, coached chief residents showed a decrease in mean operative time during complex cases (p = 0.0008, d = 0.44), but an increase in mean operative times for noncomplex cases (p < 0.0001, d = 0.33).Conclusions An OC model improves chief residents' prospective entrustment leading to increased OE in cases with greater levels of operative complexity, showing a decrease in mean operative time compared to uncoached residents in certain procedures. This is the first report showing formal coaching may be a method to enhance chief resident OE.
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Comparing intervention vs non-intervention is a coaching measure.
“| Coaching measure | Comparing intervention vs non-intervention | [69,75] |”
From Coaching in undergraduate and graduate medical education: a scoping review of success factors, barriers, and outcomes (2026) · cites this paper as [69]
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- Authors
- Chen, X. (., Cochran, A., Harzman, A. E., & Ellison, E. C.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (US)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, Xiaodong (Phoenix)
- Venue
- Journal of Surgical Education
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-07
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1097-1102
- ISSN
- 1878-7452 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-7204
- PMC
- PMC8217072
- OpenAlex
- W3113688966
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 2.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of surgical education (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR002733)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Surgical Simulation and Training
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Hospital Admissions and Outcomes
- Keywords
- chief residents, operative efficiency, operative time, entrustment, general surgery residency, surgical complexity, laparoscopic colectomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hernia repair
- MeSH terms
- Mentoring, Clinical Competence, Efficiency, Humans, Internship and Residency, Prospective Studies, General Surgery, Surgeons
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