Novel Surgery Resident Education Management Platform Improves Case Logging
Ruchi Thanawala, MD, MS; Jonathan Jesneck, PhD; Gladys Fernandez, MD; Neal E. Seymour, MD, FACS
University of Massachusetts/Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA, USA
Background: ACGME case logs are a vital tool used to track surgery resident operative experience. It is the resident's responsibility to log cases in a timely fashion. However, residency programs encounter logging delays with lags ranging from days to months. We describe a technology-based solution for this difficult problem.
Methods: We built a HIPAA-compliant web-based platform for comprehensive management of resident education information including case experience. Weekly case schedules are loaded into the platform allowing for quick case assignment to specific residents. At the end of each case, the platform presents to each operating resident case information (procedure name, role, CPT suggested by booking and platform intelligence of resident and attending practice patterns). The resident confirms or adjusts suggested operation details as needed. The platform then automatically logs the cases into the ACGME system. We compared logging habits via our platform (Sep 2016 - Feb 2017) versus ACGME using the residents' ACGME logs (Jul 2008 - Feb 2017). We investigated the lag times (median: Kruskal-Wallis and mean: independent t-test) between the case date and logging date.
Results: Median lag to case logging improved with use of the platform (median lag 7±10 days ACGME, 2±3 days platform; p < 0.001). The mean lag to case logging improved more dramatically (34±80 days to 18±38 days; p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Our platform improved usability for residents and shortened the case logging lag time, allowing availability of more up-to-date information on resident operative exposure. Future enhancements include integration of easy-to-use operative evaluation tools.
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