Chief resident indirect supervision in training safety study: is a chief resident general surgery service safe for patients?
Balancing resident autonomy and supervision is an ongoing challenge in medical training. The authors reviewed patient data to identify adverse outcomes (e.g., complications, readmissions, reoperation, mortality) undergoing common general surgery procedures performed by, or indirectly supervised by, attending surgeons or the chief resident service. Findings suggest that indirect supervision of appendectomies, cholecystectomies, and hernia repairs by the chief resident surgery service is safe and can serve as a model to enhance resident autonomy during training.