Edward Hochman
University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT 06032, USA
Title: Balancing Trainee Education and Patient Safety During Mohs Micrographic Surgery
Biography
Biography: Edward Hochman
Abstract
Dermatologic surgeons working at academic centers are tasked with maintaining a ‘dual responsibility’ between providing teaching opportunities for residents and fellows while simultaneously providing excellent medical care. They have the additional task of promoting and enforcing patient safety with inexperienced residents and new fellows. In order to best fulfill this responsibility, attending surgeons must utilize control strategies that maintain patient safety while allowing trainees to operate with a degree of autonomy that encourages active learning. Based on the trainee’s knowledge and preparation, the dermatologic surgeon can adjust the level of control in favor of more direct control. This process is termed “bargaining.” Skillfully “bargaining” is also important because it allows the attending dermatologic surgeon to pre-empt common surgical missteps from arising. Importantly, during the “bargaining” period the attending surgeon should inform the trainee if there are steps of the procedure that are not appropriate for the trainees skill level and that will require case takeover so that the trainee does not feel punished intraoperatively when takeover occurs. This poster identifies common control strategies and control dilemmas in dermatologic surgery with the hope that understanding these strategies and dilemmas will help to improve dermatologic surgery curriculums and patient safety alike.