Relationships between study habits, burnout, and general surgery resident performance on the American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination

The American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) is used by programs to evaluate the knowledge and readiness of trainees to sit for the general surgery qualifying examination. It is often used as a tool for resident promotion and may be used by fellowship programs to evaluate candidate...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of surgical research 2017-09, Vol.217, p.217-225
Main Authors: Smeds, Matthew R., Thrush, Carol R., McDaniel, Faith K., Gill, Roop, Kimbrough, Mary K., Shames, Brian D., Sussman, Jeffrey J., Galante, Joseph M., Wittgen, Catherine M., Ansari, Parswa, Allen, Steven R., Nussbaum, Michael S., Hess, Donald T., Knight, David C., Bentley, Frederick R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABSITE
Adult
Burnout
Burnout, Professional - psychology
Educational Measurement
Female
General surgery
General Surgery - education
Humans
Internship and Residency - statistics & numerical data
Male
Residency
Study habits
Test Taking Skills - statistics & numerical data
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) is used by programs to evaluate the knowledge and readiness of trainees to sit for the general surgery qualifying examination. It is often used as a tool for resident promotion and may be used by fellowship programs to evaluate candidates. Burnout has been associated with job performance and satisfaction; however, its presence and effects on surgical trainees' performance are not well studied. We sought to understand factors including burnout and study habits that may contribute to performance on the ABSITE examination. Anonymous electronic surveys were distributed to all residents at 10 surgical residency programs (n = 326). Questions included demographics as well as study habits, career interests, residency characteristics, and burnout scores using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, which assesses burnout because of both exhaustion and disengagement. These surveys were then linked to the individual's 2016 ABSITE and United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) step 1 and 2 scores provided by the programs to determine factors associated with successful ABSITE performance. In total, 48% (n = 157) of the residents completed the survey. Of those completing the survey, 48 (31%) scored in the highest ABSITE quartile (≥75th percentile) and 109 (69%) scored less than the 75th percentile. In univariate analyses, those in the highest ABSITE quartile had significantly higher USMLE step 1 and step 2 scores (P 
ISSN:0022-4804
1095-8673
DOI:10.1016/j.jss.2017.05.034