Measuring surgical trainee perceptions to assess the operating room educational environment.

OBJECTIVE: To determine measurable differences in the perception of learning between junior and senior residents in the operating rooms of an obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) residency program. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Using a cross-sectional design, the Operating Room Educational Environment Measure (OREEM), a 40-item educational environment inventory, was administered to 28 OBGYN residents from 1 training program, who train at 3 hospital sites. The OREEM measures a trainee's perceptions of the teaching surgeon, learning opportunities, operating room atmosphere, and workload. The primary outcome was total OREEM scores and secondary outcomes were OREEM subscale scores, global impression of education, and internal consistency and validity of the OREEM scale. Group sample sizes of 10 and 10 achieved 80% power to detect a 10% difference between group mean OREEM scores +/- 10% with a significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: Twenty-four residents including 11 junior (postgraduate years 1 and 2) and 13 senior (postgraduate years 3 and 4) residents were included in the analysis. Total OREEM scores, learning opportunities, and workload/support subscale scores were significantly lower for junior residents compared with senior residents across all sites. Perceptions of learning at a multispecialty tertiary referral hospital were lower than the community and regional hospitals. This was secondary to complexity of cases, subspecialty fellows, and decreased opportunities to first-assist in the operating room. The OREEM demonstrated acceptable reliability and construct validity. CONCLUSIONS: There are measurable differences in perception of the operating room educational environment between junior and senior OBGYN residents using the reliable and valid Operating Room Educational Environment Measure.