Educating Family Physician Residents for Anesthetic Preoperative Evaluation and Assessment

Kansas Journal of Medicine (09/25/23) Gerber, Ben; Roth, Eyan P.; Laubach, Tyler A.; et al.

Researchers administered multiple-choice tests before and after a didactic seminar to assess family medicine anesthesia residents' and students' knowledge of preoperative evaluation. Thirty-one participants took the pre-test and 30 participants took the post-test, with residents comprising 24 and 23 of the respective pre- and post-test cohorts. Estimates indicated an average pre-test score and standard deviation of 37.50%±10.58% for the pre-test and 45.42%±11.12% for the post-test, while respective median pre- and post-test scores were 37.50% and 43.75%. The pre- and post-test minimum scores were both 12.50%, while the maximum scores were 56.25% and 62.50%, respectively. Students' mean pre-test scores were lower compared to those of residents, but their post-test scores were higher, indicating significant improvement following the preoperative evaluation lecture. The authors suggest these trends "may be due to a lack of base knowledge compared with the residents, or their learning styles diverge from residents' learning styles, giving them an advantage in didactic environments." Given the difficulty of ascertaining how formalized education may impact clinical practice, surgical results and application of healthcare resources at this point, the researchers note that "designing a more standardized training system which includes a formal pre- and post-assessment of residents' clinical practice may facilitate the translation of knowledge into practice and from practice into improved patient safety and outcomes. Given the current gap between guidelines and practice, our results emphasize the need for a formal medical school and residency-based curriculum related to preoperative patient evaluation."

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