Passive neck brace for surgeons.

A surgeon peers downward into a body cavity when operating. Holding this position for hours across weeks, months, and years may lead to neck pain and musculoskeletal disorders. We were inspired by ungulates such as giraffes and horses, which use dorsal-ventral flexion to graze for 9-14 h per day without perceivable neck pain.

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish: The Troubling Parallels of Corporatization in the Aviation Industry and Academic Surgery.

The passengers of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airways Flight 302 paid the ultimate price for decades of prioritizing profits over technical expertise at The Boeing Company. Now, American surgical education is showing similar signs of turbulence. While surgical training has long been known for its rigor and potency, corporatized medicine is compromising what was once a proud standard.

An Analysis of Political Contributions by the American College of Surgeons Professional Association (SurgeonsPAC).

Introduction: In 2001, The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Professional Association launched a political action committee called SurgeonsPAC. SurgeonsPAC donates money to candidates for the United States Congress in an effort to advocate for the interests of surgeons and surgical patients. In this study, we analyzed the political distribution of SurgeonsPAC donations over time and assessed how contributions correlate with candidates' voting records on issues important to the ACS.

Filter Out the Noise: How to Narrow Your Search for the Perfect Match by the Collaboration of Surgical Education Fellows (CoSEF).

The residency match process can be overwhelming. We are the Collaboration of Surgical Education Fellows (CoSEF), a multi-institutional group of surgical residents. Our perspectives represent our current experiences as residents at academic programs, but all authors recently underwent the general surgery resident interview and match process, during which they interviewed at programs of all kinds.

Needs Assessment for the Development of a Sustainability Curriculum for Surgical Residents.

Introduction: The healthcare sector accounts for 8.5% of United States (U.S.

Reimagining general surgery resident selection: Collaborative innovation through design thinking.

Introduction: The process by which surgery residency programs select applicants is complex, opaque, and susceptible to bias. Despite attempts by program directors and educational researchers to address these issues, residents have limited ability to affect change within the process at present. Here, we present the results of a design thinking brainstorm to improve resident selection and propose this technique as a framework for surgical residents to creatively solve problems and generate actionable changes.

How I GPT It: Development of Custom Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbots for Surgical Education.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots provide a novel format for individuals to interact with large language models (LLMs). Recently released tools allow nontechnical users to develop chatbots using natural language. Surgical education is an exciting area in which chatbots developed in this manner may be rapidly deployed, though additional work will be required to ensure their accuracy and safety.

Teach Design to Surgical Trainees: One Small Step for Surgeons, One Giant Leap for Surgery.

The field of surgery faces complex, systemic challenges that will require new academic frameworks. In this paper, we propose design thinking as a useful problem-solving technique to apply to such challenges. We define design thinking and provide a brief history of this practice.

Instrument and Supply Variability: An Opportunity to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of the Operating Room.

Introduction: Reducing costs and carbon footprints are important, parallel priorities for the US health-care system. Within surgery, reducing the number of instruments that are sterilized and disposable supplies that are used for each operation may help achieve both goals. We wanted to measure the existing variability in surgical instrument and supply choices and assess whether standardization could have a meaningful cost and environmental impact.

An Open Operative Readiness Standard for Surgical Trainees.

Introduction: The American Board of Surgery is transitioning from a volume-based to a competency-based assessment of residents using Entrustable Professional Activities. This form of feedback and evaluation should also apply to operative procedures to help residents track their own progress. We describe an operative readiness tool that measures perceived competency in trainees across several operative, procedural, and clinical activities.

NF-κB over-activation portends improved outcomes in HPV-associated head and neck cancer.

Evolving understanding of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is leading to more specific diagnostic disease classifications. Among HNSCC caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), tumors harboring defects in are associated with improved clinical outcomes and maintenance of episomal HPV. TRAF3 and CYLD are negative regulators of NF-κB and inactivating mutations of either leads to NF-κB overactivity.

Where the Other Half Dies: Analysis of Mortalities Occurring More Than 30 Days After Complex Cancer Surgery.

Background: Nearly half of operative mortalities occur outside the traditionally studied 30-day period after surgery. To identify additional opportunities to improve surgical safety, the circumstances of deaths occurring 31-90 days after complex cancer surgery are analyzed.

Patients And Methods: Patients aged ≥ 65 years who died within 90 days of complex cancer surgery for nonmetastatic cancer were analyzed in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare and the Connecticut Tumor Registry (CTR) databases.

Surgically Managed Signet Ring Cell Esophageal Carcinomas in the National Cancer Database.

Background: Signet ring cell adenocarcinoma (SRC) is a less common histologic variant of esophageal adenocarcinoma (ACA). The low frequency of SRC limits the ability to make data-driven clinical recommendations for these patients.

Methods: The National Cancer Database was queried for adult patients with clinical stage I, II, or III adenocarcinoma of the noncervical esophagus diagnosed between 2004 and 2015 and stratified by SRC versus all other ACA variants.

Variations in Surgical Safety According to Affiliation Status With a Top-Ranked Cancer Hospital.

This database study analyzes the association between hospital affiliation with top-ranked cancer hospitals and surgical safety at affiliate hospitals.