Editor's Note Referred to as the “July phenomenon,” the influx of new surgical residents and interns at the beginning of the academic year is assumed to be associated with poor outcomes. This study of nearly 1.5 million patients who had emergency general surgery either early (July-August)  or late (September-June) in…

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Editor's Note Resident involvement in surgery is associated with comparable patient morbidity and lower mortality outcomes than procedures without residents, this study finds. The analysis used data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). The findings provide a reassuring answer to patients, attending surgeons,…

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Editor's Note The 2014 Institute of Medicine report calls for restructuring of Medicare funding for graduate medical education to incorporate pay-for-performance methods. However, to evaluate and financially reward residency programs based on performance, performance must be defined and measurable. This study assesses general surgery residency program performance using outcomes, including…

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Editor's Note A surgeon’s transformational leadership skills were associated with improved OR team behavior, in this study. Each one-point increase in a surgeon’s transformational score corresponded to three times more information-sharing behaviors and nearly five and a half times more voice behaviors among the team members. With each one-point increase…

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Editor's Note This is the first study to use a human factors and systems engineering approach to evaluate contributors to readmissions after complex surgical procedures. Previous studies on readmissions have neglected the patient perspective, the authors say. Factors identified by patients and clinician providers that may have contributed to readmissions…

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Editor's Note A proposed law would require ASCs and hospitals to install surveillance cameras in their ORs. Whether they are a good idea or not depends on why they are there, according to an editorial in Outpatient Surgery Magazine. If they are intended to enhance performance and find out why…

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Editor's Note When surgeons listen to their preferred music, they’re more efficient at closing incisions, and their technique improves, this study finds. Researchers asked 15 plastic surgery residents at the University of Texas to perform layered closures on pigs’ feet. Half the resident worked in a silent OR and half…

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Editor's Note The AmericanCollege of Surgeons calls the usefulness of surgeon rating systems released last week by two public interest group websites questionable. The groups use differing methodologies (ie, years of Medicare data reviewed, procedures studied, and rating scales used) to determine their rankings, and a patient visiting both sites…

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Editor's Note Urological procedures performed in children at non-high volume hospitals were associated with a higher overall rate of National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) identified postoperative complications, compared with high volume hospitals (11.6% vs 9.3%), in this study. After adjusting for confounding factors, patients at non-high volume hospitals were…

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Editor's Note Ulcerative colitis patients who have surgery to treat their disease live longer than those who are treated with medications, this study finds. Analyzing Medicare/Medicaid data on nearly 33,000 patients with ulcerative colitis, mortality rates were 34/1,000 person-years for colectomy and 54/1,000 person-years for medical therapy, thus showing that…

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