Perspectives on the New Curriculum

While some programs have taken to re-organizing the materials and producing hard copies of the resources for the residents, others have chosen to use the curriculum in its native structure, as a freestanding means of educational supplementation. At Washington University in St. Louis, the trainees are taught how to access the materials and encouraged to both follow the weekly thoracic surgery curriculum emails for independent reading and to utilize the immense resources available for investigating topics relevant to specific cases, conferences, and research interests. Dr. Marc Moon, program director at Washington University, explains that "we have not utilized the materials in any formal, assigned manner; rather, we choose to use the curriculum as a resource for independent study, encouraging our residents to access the multimedia materials both for at-home study and point-of-care reference." Dr. Moon expresses gratitude for the new curriculum, reporting that the faculty members "are grateful that our trainees are able to access these curricular materials through the WebBrain and Moodle, as they serve as an outstanding educational supplement to a high volume operative experience." Dr. Moon further emphasizes, "We find that the new curriculum functions as an excellent adjunct to our clinical teaching."

There are a number of proposed strengths to the new curriculum – its breadth, its ease of access, its correlation with the educational objectives of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. But what are the benefits being identified from the level of the training program? Dr. Paul Schipper, program director at OHSU, expresses appreciation for the greater volume of material accessible by the trainees, as compared with the older curriculum previously sponsored by the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association (TSDA). States Dr. Schipper, "We’ve been using the TSDA emailed curriculum for several years. With the release of WebBrain, we’ve switched over and been very pleased. Residents are accessing the material and digging deeper into it than previously. In our teaching sessions, we are spending more time on applying the material and less time on explaining it, and I think this is good." Appreciation for the breadth and depth of the material was also noted by Dr. Moon, who identifies the program’s strengths as its ease of access, its large volume, and its applicability to a wide range of educational needs.

Despite the generally laudatory praise, there have been a few issues identified by the training programs that could benefit from some improvement.

Certainly, this is not surprising, as with any educational program, practice and feedback are necessary to optimize the execution for the users. Further, with a resource collection of such enormity, minor tweaks will likely continue in the background at all times in order to ensure ongoing quality-control.

In considering further revision, Dr. Wallen raises some concerns regarding format. He states that "all the moving around on the links makes people crazy," and, for this reason, at Loma Linda, all of the materials are distributed from the WebBrain to the faculty and trainees by the program coordinator. "Otherwise, we would have a revolt," Dr. Jason Wallen explains, This distaste for accessing the materials via the WebBrain is not shared by all users, but it provides feedback, suggesting that changes could be made to optimize formatting to increase ease of use.

Certainly, the leaders in the TSDA, JCTSE, and Thoracic Surgery Residents Association (TSRA) who contributed to the development of the new curriculum are eager for this kind of feedback, welcoming all users to provide constructive criticism. Dr. Ara Vaporciyan, program director at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, co-chair of the TSDA/JCTSE Curriculum Committee, and one of the 4 section editors for the curriculum itself, has been a key player in the development of the new curriculum.

States Dr. Vaporciyan, "I never expected this to be perfect on the first try and this is exactly the feedback we need. If we can start an honest conversation about the flaws in the system we can better allocate resources to fixing the most pervasive issues."

Despite the challenges that have been identified, Dr. Wallen remains positive about the curriculum, stating, "We are excited to have an electronic curriculum that our residents can access from anywhere that includes readings and multimedia content. We anticipate that following the curriculum will enhance our residents’ performance on future inservice exams and pave the path to certification."

Dr. Ikonomidis shares Dr. Wallen’s enthusiasm, summarizing that his "residents are constantly engaged and we believe that their learning efficiency has increased." Notes Dr. Schipper, "I am hopeful that this system will stay current and realize and appreciate the effort this has and will take to do so."