How do Interventional Radiology Residents Compare with Their Peers During General Surgery Internship?

Purpose: In recent years, the number of general surgery applications have risen, particularly by interventional radiology (IR) residents. With the continued trend of IR residents to complete a general surgery preliminary year and the increased focus on certain programs, we aim to provide feedback from surgical program directors on the overall performance of IR residents compared with their peers.

Materials and Methods: The project is divided into two phases: (1) survey general surgery program directors on specific metrics of IR interns compared with their peers and (2) track data from surgery program directors and coordinators on the increased number IR resident applications compared with the previous year. Phase 1 surveyed program directors with a survey was distributed online. The following questions were asked to evaluate IR residents. (1) How did IR interns compare with their preliminary peers (noncategorical interns) in terms of skill, knowledge, work ethic, and overall performance? (2) How did IR interns compare with the categorical interns in terms of skill, knowledge, work ethic, and overall performance? (3) How many operating room cases (average) did the prelim IR residents get to scrub into compared with their peers? and (4) How was the overall performance of IR interns compared with both prelim and categorical interns in IR specific rotations (vascular surgery, intensive care unit [ICU], and IR elective)? Phase 2 obtained specific data on the overall number of applications to each general surgery program, with a focus on radiology applications, compared with previous years. This will be correlated with the lists of recommended programs for any visible change.

Results: In a previous survey distributed to general surgery program directors, specific metrics were identified that would relate to IR relevant training; these were ICU experience, vascular surgery exposure, and an average operating room cases). At present, 74% of program directors mentioned an above average performance of IR interns compared with their peers.

Conclusions: As surgical training continues to become more common among IR residents, surgical programs that offer the best pre-IR specific training will become more competitive. General surgery program directors evaluation of residents may decide the number of accepted IR residents into specific preliminary programs. This project aims to further quantify the performance of IR residents compared with their peers.