An end to "See one, do one and teach one" residency training programme - impact of the training, education, surgical accreditation and assessment (TESA) programme on medical care and patients' safety.
BACKGROUND
The delivery of optimal and safe medical care is critical in healthcare. The traditional practice of "See one, do one and teach one" residency training programme is no longer acceptable.


METHODS
In the past, there was no structured residency training programme in our hospital. There were several cases of organ injuries from surgeries performed by the residents. In 2005, we conducted a pilot study to organise a structured teaching, education, surgical accreditation and assessment (TESA) residency programme for 15 residents in the Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, KK Women's and Children's Hospital. We performed a written questionnaire survey of the residents on the new programme and patients' expectation (n = 2926) as subjective outcomes in the 1-year follow-up. We also studied the complication rates of all minor and major surgeries performed by the residents in 2004 and 2005 as an objective outcome.


RESULTS
All the residents (n = 15) surveyed supported the TESA programme. Patients' expectation improved significantly from 71% in 2004 (n = 1559) to 83% in 2005 (n = 1367) (P = 0.03). There were 10,755 surgeries in 2004 and 10,558 surgeries in 2005 performed by our residents, with 6 cases (5.6%) of organ injuries in 2004 compared to 3 cases (2.8%) in 2005. This reduction was not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
The TESA residency programme in our hospital has an impact on the delivery of optimal and safe medical care while ensuring the training of residents to be competent specialists.
Tan
Thiam-Chye
TC
Department of General Obstetrics and Gynaecology, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore.
Tan
Kim-Teng
KT
Tee
John Cs
JC
D000068:Accreditation; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012846:Singapore; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires