TY - JOUR
T1 - Plastic surgery residents' attitudes and understanding of biostatistics
T2 - A pilot study
AU - Susarla, Srinivas M.
AU - Redett, Richard J.
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - Objective To assess plastic surgery residents' knowledge, attitudes, and comfort with biostatistics. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Participants A total of 22 plastic surgery residents (91% response rate) completed the study. Results The study sample consisted of 18 residents in the integrated training path and 4 in the independent training track and was equally divided between junior and senior residents. Most respondents (>54%) had taken at least 1 course in biostatistics or epidemiology. More than 90% of residents reported reading at least 1 plastic surgical journal on a regular basis (mean 2.1 ± 1.5 journals/month). Most residents expressed a desire to learn more about biostatistics (68.2%), reported using statistical information in forming clinical opinions (86.3%), and placed a high value on knowledge of biostatistics in appraising the surgical literature (90.9%). However, only 45% of respondents reported being able to understand all the statistical terms encountered in journal articles. Only 50% of respondents felt comfortable with assessing whether the appropriate statistical tests were used to answer a research question. In case studies, the mean percentage of correct responses was 53.0 ± 24.5% (range: 0-83.3). Higher performance scores were associated with a prior course in biostatistics (p = 0.04) and the number of journals read monthly (p = 0.003). Respondents had difficulty with study design (45.5% correct), analysis of variance (45.5% correct), time to event analysis (9.1% correct), and interpreting a 95% confidence interval (45.5% correct). The number of correct responses strongly correlated with respondent confidence in biostatistics (r = 0.70, p < 0.001). Conclusion Plastic surgery residents place a high degree of importance on biostatistics but have only a fair understanding of core statistical concepts.
AB - Objective To assess plastic surgery residents' knowledge, attitudes, and comfort with biostatistics. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Participants A total of 22 plastic surgery residents (91% response rate) completed the study. Results The study sample consisted of 18 residents in the integrated training path and 4 in the independent training track and was equally divided between junior and senior residents. Most respondents (>54%) had taken at least 1 course in biostatistics or epidemiology. More than 90% of residents reported reading at least 1 plastic surgical journal on a regular basis (mean 2.1 ± 1.5 journals/month). Most residents expressed a desire to learn more about biostatistics (68.2%), reported using statistical information in forming clinical opinions (86.3%), and placed a high value on knowledge of biostatistics in appraising the surgical literature (90.9%). However, only 45% of respondents reported being able to understand all the statistical terms encountered in journal articles. Only 50% of respondents felt comfortable with assessing whether the appropriate statistical tests were used to answer a research question. In case studies, the mean percentage of correct responses was 53.0 ± 24.5% (range: 0-83.3). Higher performance scores were associated with a prior course in biostatistics (p = 0.04) and the number of journals read monthly (p = 0.003). Respondents had difficulty with study design (45.5% correct), analysis of variance (45.5% correct), time to event analysis (9.1% correct), and interpreting a 95% confidence interval (45.5% correct). The number of correct responses strongly correlated with respondent confidence in biostatistics (r = 0.70, p < 0.001). Conclusion Plastic surgery residents place a high degree of importance on biostatistics but have only a fair understanding of core statistical concepts.
KW - biostastistics
KW - epidemiology
KW - evidence-based medicine
KW - surgical education
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2013.12.003
DO - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2013.12.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 24835297
AN - SCOPUS:84903542671
VL - 71
SP - 574
EP - 579
JO - Journal of Surgical Education
JF - Journal of Surgical Education
SN - 1931-7204
IS - 4
ER -