J. W. Feimster1, S. W. Knight1, M. L. Boehler1, C. J. Schwind1, H. Han2, R. H. Kim1 1Southern Illinois University School Of Medicine,Department Of Surgery,Springfield, IL, USA 2Southern Illinois University School Of Medicine,Department Of Medical Education,Springfield, IL, USA
Introduction: Resident oral patient case presentations are important means for physician-physician communication and a key component of a resident’s progression from a junior resident to a senior resident role. Entrustment decisions by faculty attendings are based, in part, on resident communication through oral case presentations. Despite this importance, there are few guidelines that define an effective surgical oral case presentation. This preliminary study aims to discover assessment criteria that characterize effective and authentic surgical oral presentation skills that could be utilized to develop guidelines for the assessment of surgical oral case presentations.
Methods: Utilizing qualitative research methodology, audio recordings and transcriptions from actual surgical consults that were presented by a resident to an attending surgeon were evaluated by 3 evaluation panels of surgeons and senior residents. The evaluation panel discussions were moderated, recorded, coded, and analyzed by three experienced qualitative researchers. Themes were then identified from the data that characterized effective and non-effective presentation skills.
Results: Preliminary data analysis of the panel discussions indicated that authentic assessment criteria should embrace various contextual considerations including time of the day, level of training, mutual trust, and attending variability. Themes identified that characterized effective communication included an opening summary statement, concise and succinct presentation, mutual trust between the presenter and attending surgeon, and a deductive flow. These themes are interrelated and dynamically shape the nuance of assessment criteria of the skills. Themes that were associated with non-effective communication skills included vague introductions, inclusion of unrelated or irrelevant history, and following an inductive flow pattern. The length of a presentation was deemed to be equivocal, as more complex cases or junior level resident presentations may require more supporting evidence for their reasoning in presentations.
Conclusion: This preliminary study identified themes that characterize effective and non-effective communication skills that attending surgeons use to internally assess surgical residents during a surgical oral case presentation. These themes can be utilized to develop standardized guidelines for the assessment of surgical oral case presentations.
