Determinants of satisfaction and self-perceived proficiency of trainees in surgical residency programs at a single institution

BACKGROUND: We aimed to identify factors contributing to training program satisfaction and self-perceived proficiency of residents in 5 integrated surgical residency programs within the same referral institution. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey including all senior surgical residents in all integrated sub-specialty and general surgery residency programs at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Training programs were assessed on 6 educational components including operative case volume and diversity, intra-operative hands-on training, morning teaching sessions, seminars, ward rounds, and research opportunities. RESULTS: Of 82 eligible residents, 69 (84.1%) responded to the survey. Overall resident satisfaction (rated from 0–10) varied between the 5 training programs, from a mean of 6.03 to 7.89 (overall p = 0.03). The percentage of residents who agreed they would be proficient by the end of their training ranged from 44.2%-88.9%. General surgery residents had the lowest overall satisfaction score, and lowest scores in all educational components except seminar teaching. In multivariable analysis, operative case volume and diversity (AOR 3.67; 95% CI, 1.24–10.83; P = 0.019), and hands-on training (AOR 4.15; 95% CI, 1.27–13.5; P = 0.018) were significantly associated with overall resident satisfaction. In ordinal logistic regression, hands-on training (OR 3.94, 95% CI, 1.69–9.2; P = 0.001), and seminar sessions (OR 2.43, 95% CI, 1.11–5.33; P = 0.028) were significantly associated with self-perceived proficiency. CONCLUSION: Different surgical residency training programs within the same institution had divergent resident satisfaction scores and proficiency scores. Operative case volume and diversity, and intraoperative hands-on training are the most important predictors of resident satisfaction while hands-on training and seminar sessions independently predicted self-perceived proficiency. Attention to these key components of resident education is likely to have a strong effect on training outcomes. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-022-03521-5.