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Abstract #148523

Uday Patel, MBChB¹, Katherine Virgo, PhD, MBA², Walter E. Longo, MD³, Riccardo A. Audisio, MD¹, and Frank E. Johnson, MD². (1) University of Liverpool, L69 3BX, Liverpool, United Kingdom, (2) Dept. of Surgery, Saint Louis University & Saint Louis VAMC, 3635 Vista at Grand Boulevard, Saint Louis, MO 63110-0250, 314-577-8316, frank.johnson1@va.gov, (3) Yale University, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520

Introduction: Continuing medical education (CME) is believed to be valuable, but evidence of this is scanty. We investigated how surgeon age affects surveillance strategies utilized by surgeons following their own patients with rectal carcinoma. We reasoned that, if there were no significant differences in strategies among surgeons of various ages, the homogenization would be attributable to CME. Methods: We surveyed the 1,795 members of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) using a questionnaire based on 4 succinct vignettes describing idealized patients treated with curative intent for TNM stages I-III rectal carcinoma. The surgeons were asked how often they use 14 specific surveillance modalities during years 1-5 after surgery. The motivation underlying their surveillance practices was analyzed using a menu of 12 possible factors and a Likert scale of 1 (lowest effect on motivation) to 10 (highest effect). We assessed the effect of surgeon age on follow-up intensity using repeated-measures ANOVA. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the effect of surgeon age on motivation. Results: Of the 566 responses, 347 were considered evaluable. There were no significant differences among age strata (30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and ≥ 60) in surveillance practices for any of the 4 vignettes. Only one motivating factor differed significantly among age strata: psychosocial support for the patient; surgeons ≥ 60 were motivated more strongly (Likert score 6.9; p < .05) by this factor than younger surgeons (Likert score 5.8). Conclusions: CME helps homogenize this important aspect of clinical cancer management among ASCRS surgeons.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize how the age of a surgeon affects his/her method of surveillance for rectal cancer patients after initial treatment.
• Discuss the role of postgraduate medical education in medical practice.
• Create a post-treatment surveillance plan for a particular rectal cancer patient.

Keywords: Education, Cancer Screening

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.