Association for Surgical EducationImplementation of a Web- and simulation-based curriculum to ease the transition from medical school to surgical internship
Section snippets
Website and content development
We created a dynamic database-driven website using an open-source content management system [12]. We integrated a password-protected online curriculum that provided a general introduction to the residency program and 6 content sections on postoperative complications, including arrhythmias, hemorrhage, myocardial infarction, pulmonary edema, pulmonary embolism, and sepsis. The sections also contained external links to other resources available online.
In March 2003, all PGY I that had matched to
Results
Sixteen residents (94%) used the web curriculum for a total of 89 sessions (5.2 sessions per user, range 2 to 11). The users viewed an average of 8.6 web pages (range 1 to 59) per online sessions. The most popular content section was the page on myocardial infarction with 30 hits and an average viewing time of 203 seconds (Table 1).
Fifteen residents (88%) submitted confidence data before and 12 residents (71%) after completion of the curriculum. Eleven PGY I (65%) filled out both questionnaires
Comments
The recent changes in academic medicine have had a major impact on surgical education. Primarily economic factors have resulted in higher patient turnover and an increased clinical workload for faculty members. Concerns about patient safety as outlined in Kohn et al’s report [13] have triggered a paradigm shift for surgical residency programs and resulted in significantly shortened resident work hours. Even though these changes were implemented with good intention, they have caused a decrease
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