Reducing Wasted Time Prior To Starting Thoracic Surgical Operations.

To design and implement multidisciplinary interventions to decrease the interval between when a patient entered the operating room and when skin incision was made during thoracic surgical operations. Thirty-eight steps that occurred during the pre-incision time were identified during meetings with surgery, anesthesia, and nursing teams. Using a critical path method and Pareto analysis, standardization of intubation and positioning techniques as well as establishing strict guidelines to avoid unnecessary urinary catheter and arterial line placement were identified as high-value interventions.

A multi-institutional study of patient-derived gender-based discrimination experienced by resident physicians.

Background: This study characterizes prevalence, frequency, and forms of patient-derived gender-based discrimination (GBD) experienced by resident physicians, as well as their experiences witnessing and reporting patient-derived GBD.

Methods: A web-based survey was sent to residents from 12 programs at three academic institutions.

Results: Response rate was 47.

The Impact of a Resident Communication Skills Curriculum on Patients' Experiences of Care.

Despite the high impact of lapses in communication skills on patient care, these skills are often not explicitly taught in residency training programs. We implemented a simulation and web-based curriculum in communication for anesthesia residents and used a patient survey adapted from the Four Habits Coding Scheme to detect changes in patient feedback on residents' communication skills after the curricular intervention. Postintervention mean ratings of residents for the overall survey were higher than preintervention mean ratings.