TITLE:
Surgical and non-surgical education practices in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery fellowships within the United States
AUTHORS:
John A. Occhino, Eilean L. Myer, Ruchira Singh, John B. Gebhart
KEYWORDS:
Education; Fellowship; Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery; Surgical Procedures; Training
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.3 No.4A,
June
18,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Data
are scarce regarding surgical and non-surgical education in accredited Female
Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS) fellowships in theUnited States.
We compared surgical and non-surgical and education among training programs
and expected surgical comfort level with pelvic reconstructive procedures
from the perspective of the fellow and program director. An online survey was
distributed to program directors and fellows from the 39 accredited FPMRS
fellowships at the time (2010). Domains evaluated in the survey were academic
education requirements; surgical approaches to prolapse and to incontinence;
other surgical procedures; and research and publication expectations. In total,
forty fellows from 21 programs and directors from 27 programs. The most
common surgical procedures performed for apical, anterior, and posterior
prolapse were uterosacral ligament suspension, native tissue anterior
colporrhaphy, and posterior colporrhaphy, respectively. Differences in
perceived surgical comfort level were seen for coccygeus suspension, graftreinforced
posterior colporrhaphy, rectus fascial sling, urethral bulking agent,
cystoscopic ureteral stent placement and bowel repair. A greater proportion of
program directors reported that fellows would be comfortable performing these
procedures upon graduation than the proportion reported by the fellows
themselves. Differences exist in FPMRS training nationwide, however,
responding fellows appeared to be trained in multiple approaches to prolapse
repair. Differences were seen in surgical comfort level as perceived by fellows
and program directors.