title: Resident and attending assessments of operative involvement: Do we agree?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  General surgery residents' (GSRs') operative experience likely improves with increased involvement. We explored GSRs and attending surgeons' (ASs') perceptions of GSRs' operative roles.
  
  
  METHODS
  GSRs and ASs completed surveys postoperatively regarding responsibility for several operative tasks (incision opening, dissection of minor and major structures, major suturing, and incision closure). Analyses used chi-square test (P < .05) and Spearman's rank correlation (ρ).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 151 pairs of surveys were collected. Interpair agreement on GSRs involvement varied for each category (ρ range: .30 to .67), and GSRs underestimated their involvement for every step. GSRs frequently performed the majority of each task (range: 86% to 97%). Decreasing operational complexity, acute operations, and junior ASs (<5 years in practice) were each associated with increased agreement and GSRs involvement in operative tasks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GSRs involvement was extensive, and agreement with ASs was high overall. Some discrepancies remain in several categories based on operational complexity, acuity, and ASs experience.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Kauffman
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Doherty
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: teviah.sachs@bmc.org.
authors.forename: Teviah
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sachs
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D010819:Physician's Role; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Attending agreement; Intraoperative task; Resident education; Resident perception; Surgical training