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Association Between Surgeon Technical Skills ...

The findings of this study suggest that there is wide variation in technical skill among practicing surgeons, accounting for more than 25% of the variation in patient outcomes. Higher colectomy technical skill scores appear to be associated with lower complication rates for colectomy and for all other procedures performed by a surgeon. Efforts to improve surgeon technical skills may result in better patient outcomes.

Stulberg, J., et al. Association Between Surgeon Technical Skills and Patient Outcomes JAMA Surg. Published online August 19, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2020.3007

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Prolonged Operative Duration Increases Risk of ...

This study demonstrates comprehensively that prolonged operative time can increase the likelihood of developing SSI across a broad array of surgical procedures and surgical specialties. Overall, pooled analyses demonstrated that patients with extended operative times across a wide range of procedures had approximately twice the likelihood of developing SSI, and on overage, the mean operative time was approximately 30 min longer in patients with SSIs compared with those patients without SSIs. Nevertheless, given the importance of SSIs on patient outcome and health care economics including hospital reimbursement penalties, hospitals should focus efforts to reduce operative time. This may include strategies such as the adoption of new technologies that can help improve operative efficiency, utilization of specialized care teams, ensuring that operating staff are not overworked or fatigued, and better preoperative planning. These strategies should be considered in light of other possible risk factors for SSI.

Cheng, H., et al. Prolonged Operative Duration Increases Risk of Surgical Site Infections: A Systematic Review. Surgical Infections. Aug 2017.722-735. http://doi.org/10.1089/sur.2017.089

Peer-Reviewed Abstracts
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Facilitating the Safe Diffusion of Surgical ...

This article highlights novel strategies that may assist surgeons and hospitals in addressing the challenges associated with incorporating emerging procedures and technology with safe patient care. Peer coaching by experienced surgeons has been proposed to assist with safe surgical skill acquisition in practice. Hospital credentialing committees may better utilize expert surgeons as proctors for less-experienced surgeons who apply for privileges to perform new procedures. Furthermore, opportunities exist in leveraging industry's financial incentives with surgeons’ drive for clinical advancements. The strategies described in this article offer ways to ensure procedural competency to benefit and protect patients when surgical innovations enter practice.

Pradarelli, J.C., et al. Facilitating the Safe Diffusion of Surgical Innovations Annals of Surgery: April 2019 - Volume 269 - Issue 4 - p 610–611. DOI: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000003134.

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Evolution in surgical training: what can we ...

Surgery already takes lessons from the airline industry and can take similar lessons from professional sport with regards to training. The relationship of a coach and elite sportsman is similar in many respects to that of trainer and trainee. As surgical technology advances, so must the teaching tools and strategies to train the next generation of surgeon.

Chand, M., et al. Evolution in surgical training: what can we learn from professional coaches and elite athletes? J R Soc Med. 2014 Jul; 107(7): 290–292. doi: 10.1177/0141076814532395

Peer-Reviewed Manuscripts
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Correlation of High-Volume Crowdsourced ...

Journal of Endourology

Kowalewski T, Comstock B, Sweet R, Schaffhausen C, Menhadji A, Averch T, Box G, Brand T, Ferrandino M, Kaouk J, Knudsen B, Landman J, Lee B, Schwartz B, McDougall E, Lendvay TS. Correlation of High-Volume Crowdsourced Evaluation and Tool Motion Metrics for Surgical Skills Assessment: The Basic Laparoscopic Urologic Skills (BLUS) Validation Project. Journal of Endourology [in Review, 2016].

Crowd-sourced assessment of technical skills (C-SATS): Validation through the basic laparoscopic urologic surgery (BLUS) curriculum - Interview

A properly-sized and qualified crowd can accurately score laparoscopic skill performances on par with faculty experts. Crowd-based ratings may be an efficient method for assessing passing/failing performances, and for measuring change in performance after training.

Lendvay, T., et al.. Crowd-sourced assessment of technical skills (C-SATS): Validation through the basic laparoscopic urologic surgery (BLUS) curriculum - Interview. 32nd World Congress of Endourology & SWL - September 3 - 7, 2014 - Taipei, Taiwan.

World Congress of Endourology Meeting

Lendvay T, Comstock B, Averch T, Box G, Knudsen B, Brand T, Ferrandino M, Kaouk J, Landman J, Lee B, McDougall E, Menhadji A, Schwartz B, Sweet R, Kowalewski T. Crowd-Sourced Assessment of Technical Skills (C-SATS): Validation Through the Basic Laparoscopic Urologic Surgery (BLUS) Curriculum. World Congress of Endourology Meeting, Taipei, Taiwan, September 6, 2014 [Moderated Poster].

Crowd-Sourced Assessment of Technical Skills: a novel method to evaluate surgical performance

Journal of Surgical Research

Validated methods of objective assessments of surgical skills are resource intensive. We sought to test a web-based grading tool using crowdsourcing called Crowd-Sourced Assessment of Technical Skill.

Chen C, White L, Kowalewski T, Aggarwal R, Lintott C, Comstock B, Kuksenok K, Aragon C, Holst D, Lendvay T. Crowd-sourced assessment of technical skills: a novel method to evaluate surgical performance. Journal of Surgical Research. 2014 Mar 31;187(1):65-71.

Surgical Skill and Complication Rates after Bariatric Surgery

The technical skill of practicing bariatric surgeons varied widely, and greater skill was associated with fewer postoperative complications and lower rates of reoperation, readmission, and visits to the emergency department. Although these findings are preliminary, they suggest that peer rating of operative skill may be an effective strategy for assessing a surgeon's proficiency.

Birkmeyer, J.D., et al. for the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative, Surgical Skill and Complication Rates after Bariatric Surgery The New England Journal of Medicine. Published online October 10, 2013. N Engl J Med 2013; 369:1434-1442

Crowd-Sourcing Assessment of Technical Skills (C-SATS): Faculty Experts vs. Amazon.com Mechanical Turk Project™ vs. Facebook™

We discovered that crowd-sourced surgery-naïve graders provided assessments equivalent to trained expert surgeon evaluators, and at a faster rate.

Chen C., et al.  Crowd-Sourced Assessment of Technical Skills (C-SATS): Faculty Experts vs. Amazon.com Mechanical Turk Project™ vs. Facebook™. University of Washington School of Medicine, 2012. Medical Student III Poster Session.