A rationale for the teaching of statistics to surgical residents

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Research
• Biostatistics

Background:

• Statistical methods are increasingly used in surgical literature.
• Understanding these methods is crucial for surgeons to interpret research.
• Current statistical comprehension among surgical residents is largely unassessed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the prevalence and types of statistical techniques in surgical journals.
• To assess the statistical knowledge of graduating surgical residents.
• To identify statistical skills that would enhance access to surgical literature.

Main Methods:

• Random selection and review of 200 surgical journal articles from 1984.
• Classification of statistical techniques used in the selected articles.
• Survey and objective testing of 91 fifth-year surgical residents on statistical knowledge.

Main Results:

• Basic descriptive statistics provide access to only 44.5% of articles.
• Knowledge of advanced techniques (t-tests, etc.) increases access to 80.5%.
• 90% of residents desired more statistics training, yet 92% received under 5 hours.

Conclusions:

• Specific statistical techniques can improve surgeons' access to research literature.
• Surgical residents demonstrate suboptimal statistical knowledge.
• Formal statistical instruction is necessary within surgical residency programs.