Residents about residency: educational integrity and skill assessment

Abstract

In the last few years, as the COVID-19 pandemic put in the spotlight the flaws of the Italian National Health System (INHS), the Italian National Residency Program (NRP) has aroused more and more interest among several stakeholders. The persistent burden on the Welfare System, caused by the systemic shortage of Specialized Practitioners, inevitably influenced the recent major reforms of the NRP, eventually affecting its quality. Within this emergency scenario, the urge to critically analyze the post-graduate educational program and its methods, became impellent. As the Orthopedics and Traumatology Italian Residents Association (AISOT) showed, despite the newly introduced DL Calabria, in 2020, almost 50% of the Orthopedic Residents would not feel comfortable to be challenged as independent specialists. However, the lack of methodological involvement of Residents in daily practice activities, from their Mentors, if matched with the positive feedback provided from residents who, conversely, experienced the DL Calabria conveniences, raised some concerns about the standard of quality of future Orthopedics. Modern times and technologies may allow a more efficient redesign and less nebulous educational methods and goals, and eventually guarantee a Nationwide equality among each Orthopedic School. A shared future with exhaustive objectives and fair opportunities between all Italian Orthopedic Residents is the key to build a righteous collective intelligentsia and harmony between practitioners of a glorious discipline, with ancient roots, such as Italian Orthopedics.

Three-dimensional printed models can reduce costs and surgical time for complex proximal humeral fractures: preoperative planning, patient satisfaction, and improved resident skills

“…The occurrence of iatrogenic complications is not only associated with surgical skill and mastery of theoretical knowledge, but also related to preoperative diagnosis and surgical planning [ 1 ]. This is especially true for junior surgeons and trainees, where hands-on practical experience goes a long way in successfully performing high-demand surgeries [ 27 , 28 ]. In addition, a full-touch fracture model appears to be essential to facilitate communication among surgical team members, thus improving performance and collaboration.…”

“…Also from a didactic point of view this method may represent a useful option to study anatomy regarding the review of surgical techniques and fractures [ 28 ]. In particular, the residents were allowed to practice, improving their skills and learning curve, and they aimed for more widespread utilization of modern and innovative tools such as this one, to approach major surgery with more confidence.…”

“…These findings, along with the opinions of the residents, have led us to incorporate this technology into our university’s residency program, as has already been done in other structures [ 18 , 30 ]. Basically, owning an institutional 3D printer can prove to be an important training tool during residency programs [ 27 , 28 , 30 ].…”