Competency-based frameworks rely on relevant professional competency rather than formal regulations. The transitional phase between final year undergraduate and common trunk postgraduate medical training is characterized by an increase of professional responsibility whereby previously acquired knowledge, skills and abilities have to be merged and applied to patients. Undergraduate and postgraduate training programs should ensure a successive transfer of responsibility for medical practice to final year students and young residents depending on individual competence. The concept of entrustable professional activities (EPA) represents a curricular concept based on concrete medical tasks which may be assigned to the responsibility of the trainee.

The present survey illustrates the current state of surgical education and training in German hospitals. An implementation of pragmatic approaches such as the assistance in substeps of an operation and guided practical training of surgical skills might help to improve the satisfaction of physicians undergoing surgical training.

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BackgroundTo investigate the added diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the liver and its impact on therapy decisions in patients with hepatic malignancy.MethodsInterdisciplinary gastrointestinal tumorboard cases concerning patients with hepatic malignancies discussed between 11/2015 and 06/2016 were included in this retrospective, single-center study. Two radiologists independently reviewed the respective liver MR-examination first without, then with DWI. The readers were blinded regarding number, position and size of hepatic malignancies. Cases in which DWI revealed additional findings concerning the hepatic tumor status as compared to conventional sequences alone were presented to experienced members of the interdisciplinary tumor board. In this retrospective setting changes in treatment decisions based on these additional findings in the DWI sequences were recorded.ResultsA total of 87 patients were included. DWI revealed additional findings in 12 patients (13,8%). These new findings had a direct effect on the therapy in 8 patients (9,2%): In 6 patients (6,9%) the surgical/interventional treatment was adapted (n = 5: extended resection, n = 1: with transarterial chemoembolization of a single hepatocellular carcinoma only detectable in DWI); 2 patients (2,3%) received systemic therapy (n = 1: neo-adjuvant, n = 1: palliative) based on the additional findings in DWI. In 4 patients (4.6%) additional DWI findings did not affect the therapeutic decision.ConclusionsDWI is a relevant diagnostic tool in oncologic imaging of the liver. By providing further information regarding tumor load in hepatic malignancies it can lead to a significant change in treatment.

Training in laparoscopic skills on simulators such as box-, POP- or VR-trainers improves intraoperative performance. Although this training is not mandatory in Germany at the moment, certified centres for minimally invasive surgery need to account for training opportunities. According to previous surveys, laparoscopic simulators are desired, yet not sufficiently available. The aim of the current project was a structured analysis of laparoscopic simulation sites in Germany. An online survey was performed among members of the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie". This consisted of 16 questions on the availability, type, use and financing of a laparoscopic simulator. If more than one person in an institution completed the questionnaire, answers were pooled and an analysis of clinics as well as single persons was performed. Of 4605 persons, 422 participants (9.2 %) from 265 different departments completed the survey. In 140 Institutions (52.8 %) a simulator for laparoscopic training was present. No training possibility was available in 37.8 % (n = 99) of the hospitals. A curriculum for laparoscopic training was obtained in 43.3 % (n = 103) of the participants with laparoscopic training facilities. The use of available simulators by surgical residents increased when they were embedded in a mandatory training curriculum (at least monthly use: 33.3 vs. 57.1 %). Compared to previous surveys, the proportion of hospitals with simulators is increasing. Their use is currently very heterogenous. A mandatory basic curriculum may encourage acquisition of more simulators. A DGAV database is supposed to encourage cooperation between training centres and clinics without simulators.