The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on general surgery residency: an analysis of operative volumes by residents at a Canadian general surgery residency program

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Surgery Vol. 65; p. S46
• Main Authors: Rouhi, Armin, Purich, Kieran, Jogiat, Uzair, Mapiour, Deng, Kim, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa CMA Impact, Inc 01.11.2022
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Pandemics; Surgery
• ISSN: 0008-428X; 1488-2310

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to surgical training across the world. The majority of the existing research on this topic has been based on qualitative methods. The purpose of this study was to quantify the impact of the pandemic on the operating volume of residents at a single Canadian general surgery program. Methods: The T-Res assessment system (Resilience Software Inc.) is used by many surgical residents to log procedures. Anonymized data for a Canadian program was obtained for the months of July 2019-November 2020. The 8 months before the pandemic (July 2019-February 2020) were compared with the 8 months following the onset of the pandemic (April 2020-November 2020). Residents on research or personal leaves were excluded. To further assess the impact of the first COVID-19 wave, a record of all operative cases was obtained from one of the local major hospitals. Results: We analyzed 7986 cases logged by 18 residents across all postgraduate years (PGY). There was a slight, nonsignificant increase in average number of cases per resident in the pandemic period compared with the prepandemic period (208.2 v. 235.5; p = 0.33). Data from the hospital records showed a 23% reduction in cases during the analyzed timeframe. However, general surgery was affected less than other specialties, with a 10% reduction. Conclusion: The analyzed general surgery program did not see a reduction in resident operative volumes. Possible explanations include the overall large volume of emergency cases at this program, and the lower impact of the pandemic on general surgery compared with other specialties. We acknowledge the limitation that heterogeneity exists within hospital protocols, opportunities obtained on different rotations and resident logging practices. Further quantitative research on the topic, stratified by PGY status is needed.