ASE Pre-Meeting Courses

Presented by the Vice Chair of Education (VCE) Committee

Course Description:
Within Academic Departments of Surgery around the country, the Vice Chair of Education (VCE) role has become increasingly common, yet no two job descriptions are exactly the same. Vice Chairs of Education are called upon to support programs and trainees, develop faculty, engage faculty, manage budgets, reach medical students, and a host of other varying educational roles depending on the needs of the department. Furthermore, these needs may change from year to year depending on the sociocultural environment and other institutional changes. This course is designed for the VCE any stage of their career, whether it be as the inaugural VCE in their department, as newly promoted into the VCE role, or as a seasoned VCE. Sessions will focus on collaborative problem-solving for real-world issues, leadership development and gaining insight from each other as well as non-VCE educational leaders.

Objectives:

• To foster meaningful relationships between VCEs through communication and collaboration
• To provide attendees with concrete skills and strategies to navigate situations unique to the role of a VCE
• To facilitate the sharing of experiences between educational leaders
• To understand and reflect on how current trends in the sociocultural/political environment impact surgical education
• To develop and/or refine leadership skills necessary for the role of the VCE

Presented by the Clerkships Directors & Clerkship Coordinator Committees

Course Description:
Formerly known as “Troubleshooting Your Clerkship”. This pre-meeting course is an annual venue for new and continuing surgery Clerkship Directors and Clerkship Coordinators to discuss and learn all aspects of the surgery core clerkship in undergraduate medical education. This one-day program will include panel discussions, half-hour topic areas with discussion, and three 15-minute updates after lunch. The four content areas will be:
• Preparing the students for surgery clerkship
• Understanding the current trends in undergraduate medical education
• Obtaining support for both the clerkship directors and coordinators in order to run a successful surgery clerkship
• Supporting Students (accommodations, learning resources, and wellness)

Between sessions there will be smaller sessions giving updates relevant to Clerkship Directors and Coordinators such as updates for ASE/ACS Medical Student Core Curriculum; NBME Workgroup; and WISE MD.

Course Description:
Attendees of this workshop will be taught our well-researched mental skills curriculum over a period of 4 hours. Through an engaging presentation, interactive discussion among attendees, and applied practice of mental skills throughout the entire workshop, learners will obtain the needed skills to reduce their stress during clinical performance and optimize their performance.

Objectives:

• Identify how stress can impact health care providers’ performance
• Recognize the rationale, benefits, and applications of mental skills training
• Develop performance-enhancing mental skills

Presented by the Assessment, Curriculum, and Evaluation (ACE) Committee

Course Description:
Participants will learn to deliver Fundamentals of Communication in Surgery sessions to surgical residents at their institution. The training will review program content, materials, and tips for teaching residents. Participants will practice the FCS skillset to foster confidence in teaching these skills to surgical trainees.
Content includes:
1. 2-Minute Rant: improv exercise to discover common ground among shared values underlying expressions of frustration.
2. Avoiding the Cognitive Trap: card game to teach learners to recognize and respond to emotionally charged statements by using empathic responses.
3. Heads Up and Headline: card game and worksheet to learn delivery of serious news to patients and families by stating bad event + consequences.
4. Better Conversations: worksheets and role play exercise to apply this novel framework to informed consent conversations teaching the skill of supporting patients and families in deliberation.
5. Acute Change in Status: worksheet and role play exercise to practice using best- and worst-case scenarios to express uncertainty about the range of possible outcomes and generate narrative descriptions of the experience of care to help patients and families understand what might come next.
After the course, our team will provide participants with the necessary materials and ongoing support to launch the FCS curriculum at their own institutions. For more information, please visit our website at: https://fcsprogram.org/

Objectives:

• Participants will learn and practice the FCS skillset: empathic response to avoid the cognitive trap, generate a heads up and headline statement, clarify goals and downsides of surgery using the Better Conversation framework for informed consent, and use scenario planning and Best Case/Worst Case for prognostication and decision making
• Participants will demonstrate application of the FCS skillset with high fidelity through exercises, games, and role play with peers
• Participants will practice providing constructive feedback during scenario planning and Better Conversations role play
• Participants will prepare to launch the FCS curriculum with surgical residents at their institutions
• Participants will identify potential pitfalls and respond to common questions when delivering FCS to resident learners