Sarah P Shubeck, MD, Arielle E Kanters, MD, MS, Justin B Dimick, MD, MPH. University of Michigan
Introduction: Surgical coaching programs are designed to improve technical skill, increase collaboration between surgeons, and refine surgical judgment with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes. These coaching experiences have many different formats with limited evidence to support necessary topics to include in order to provide the greatest benefit to participants. In this context, we sought to determine what surgeons tended to most frequently discuss in early coaching conversations.
Methods: This qualitative study evaluated 10 video coaching conversations between 20 bariatric surgeons at the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative meeting in October 2015. Using grounded theory approach, the coaching encounter transcripts were coded in an iterative process with comparative analysis in order to identify emerging themes. For this analysis, we focused on the identifying common content areas in surgical coaching conversations.
Results: Three major themes emerged during this analysis: (1) Bariatric surgeons prioritize discussions of their optimal set up for the procedures. Specifically, they frequently describe their preferences and potential variations in port placement to facilitate surgical approach. (2) Bariatric surgeons spend significant portions of coaching conversations discussing instrument, energy device, and stapler preferences. (3) Bariatric surgeons frequently discuss their team compliment, the experience levels of their team members, and how they best utilize the skills of their team.
Conclusions: In coaching conversations, bariatric surgeons focus on procedure set up, instrument preferences, and the most effective deployment of team members rather than specific steps or techniques of bariatric procedures. This suggests that coaching programs for bariatric surgeons should particularly emphasize these domains. Further, similar coaching interventions across surgical disciplines must tailor their content to the individual specialty in order to best address the needs of the participants.
Presented at the SAGES 2017 Annual Meeting in Houston, TX.
Abstract ID: 87734
Program Number: S014
Presentation Session: Outcomes/Quality Session
Presentation Type: Podium