Essential hand surgery procedures for mastery by graduating plastic surgery residents: A survey of program directors

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to establish the essential hand surgery procedures that should be mastered by graduating plastic surgery residents. This framework can then be used as a guideline for developing Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill to teach technical skills in hand surgery. METHODS: Ten expert hand surgeons were surveyed regarding the essential hand surgery procedures that should be mastered by graduating plastic surgery residents. The top 10 procedures from this survey were then used to survey all 89 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved plastic surgery program directors. RESULTS: There was a 69 percent response rate to the program director survey (n = 61). The top nine hand surgery procedures included open carpal tunnel release, open A1 pulley release, digital nerve repair with microscope, closed reduction and percutaneous pinning of metacarpal fracture, excision of dorsal or volar ganglion, zone II flexor tendon repair with multistrand technique, incision and drainage of the flexor tendon sheath for flexor tenosynovitis, flexor tendon sheath steroid injection, and open cubital tunnel release. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical educators need to develop objective methods to teach and document technical skill. The Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill is a valid method for accomplishing this task. There has been no consensus regarding which hand surgery procedures should be mastered by graduating plastic surgery residents. The authors have identified nine procedures that are overwhelmingly supported by plastic surgery program directors. These nine procedures can be used as a guideline for developing Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill to teach and document technical skills in hand surgery.