Postgraduate year does not influence operating time in laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background. Surgical resident education may contribute to increased operati ng time, thus increasing costs at teaching institutions. It is possible tha t junior residents, in particular, with less experience could contribute to longer operating times for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We hypothesized t hat all general surgery residents, regardless of level of training and with proper supervision, could complete a laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a saf e and timely fashion. Materials and methods. A retrospective study was performed using data colle cted from laparoscopic cholecystectomies completed under the supervision of one attending surgeon over a 2-year period. Operating times were recorded, the operating surgeon was identified, and cases were assigned an acuity le vel based on pathologic findings. Operative times were compared after divid ing surgeons into three groups (junior residents, senior residents, and sta ff). Results. Seventy-one cases were entered into the study. There were no diffe rences when comparing mean operating times among the three groups (P = 0.2, analysis of variance). The pathologic acuity in each group was similar (P = 0.8, Fisher's exact test). There was a difference when evaluating the ope rating times for the pathologic level of acuity (P = 0.002, Kruskal-Wallis test). Conclusions. Resident level does not affect the operating time in performin g laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The pathologic acuity of the gallbladders w as distributed similarly for all three groups. There was a difference in me an operating time based on pathologic acuity. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be performed in a safe and efficient manner at a teaching institution. (C) 2001 Academic Press.