An Open Operative Readiness Standard for Surgical Trainees

Introduction: The American Board of Surgery is transitioning from a volume-based to a competency-based assessment of residents using Entrustable Professional Activities. This form of feedback and evaluation should also apply to operative procedures to help residents track their own progress. We describe an operative readiness tool that measures perceived competency in trainees across several operative, procedural, and clinical activities. Methods: We distributed a survey to General Surgery trainees at our institution. Participants were asked to rate their level of comfort in 28 operative, procedural, or clinical activities using the standard Entrustable Professional Activity scale: (1) Observation Only, (2) Direct Supervision, (3) Indirect Supervision, (4) Unsupervised Practice, or (5) Supervising Others. Results: 43 of 46 residents (93%) responded to the survey. Median perceived comfort level generally increased with post graduate year level across all competencies. Residents reached a median perceived level of “Unsupervised Practice” by post graduate year 5 in 17 of 28 competencies of various complexity levels. Conclusions: While residents are not expected to achieve an “Unsupervised Practice” comfort level in all competencies, creating a transparent platform for reporting this information provides programs a tool to guide educational quality improvement efforts. In addition, it allows for program directors to have greater resolution into the operative advancement of residents outside of their own specialty. In the future, this tool may be instrumental in the development of national competency standards.