Find us on Twitter on 1/27 at 8PM ET #AASChat - ing about "Defining Your Inner Leader"

Join us on Thursday, January 27th at 8 PM ET on Twitter @AcademicSurgery, #AASChat to discuss! Moderated by Dr. Anthony Villano (@AMVillanoMD), Dr. Lesly Dossett (@Leslydossett) and Dr. Luke Funk (@lmfunk2)

#AASChat Questions – Here’s what we’ll chat about:

Question 1: Good leadership takes on many forms. What do you think are important qualities of good leadership? Why?

Question 1a: If a leader could have just one defining quality, what would it be?

Question 2: For the trainees and early career surgeons, how do you identify and reach out to leaders you admire for mentorship?

Question 3: Effective leadership is time consuming. What strategies do you employ to keep yourself on-task?

- Checkout AAS blogpost by Dr. Anji Wall, MD, PhD “How to Increase Organization and Enhance Productivity as an Academic Surgeon” https://www.aasurg.org/blog/how-to-increase-organization-and-enhance-productivity-as-an-academic-surgeon/

Question 4: Sometimes once in a position of leadership it can be challenging to illicit honest feedback from your team. How do you go about getting meaningful feedback to foster self-improvement?

- Recent study in J Surg Educ by the Michigan group addresses this very issue in surgical residency training (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31492642/)
  - Vu JV, Harbaugh CM, De Roo AC, Biesterveld BE, Gauger PG, Dimick JB, Sandhu G. Leadership-Specific Feedback Practices in Surgical Residency: A Qualitative Study. J Surg Educ. 2020 Jan-Feb;77(1):45-53. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2019.08.020. Epub 2019 Sep 3. PMID: 31492642; PMCID: PMC6944744.
- Implementation of a multi-tiered education platform with 360-degree feedback has demonstrated quantitative improvement in “leadership index” amongst surgeons (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32773278/)
  - Hu J, Lee R, Mullin S, Schwaitzberg S, Harmon L, Gregory P, Elkin PL. How physicians change: Multisource feedback driven intervention improves physician leadership and teamwork. Surgery. 2020 Oct;168(4):714-723. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2020.06.008. Epub 2020 Aug 6. PMID: 32773278.

Question 5: There is increasing interest in incorporating leadership training into surgical education. What do you think would be most valuable for leadership education?

Question 5a: Do you have a formal curriculum at your institution? What have you found works best for your trainees? Trainees, what have you found most useful for your leadership education?

Check out these resources:

- - Review of Leadership curricula in General Surgery residency.
    - Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34116793/
    - Torres-Landa S, Wairiri L, Cochran A, Brasel KJ. Evaluation of leadership curricula in general surgery residency programs. Am J Surg. 2021 Nov;222(5):916-921. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2021.05.012. Epub 2021 Jun 4. PMID: 34116793.
  - Review by Drs. Dimick and Mulholland outlining design principles for a leadership curriculum
    - Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28708634/
    - Dimick JB, Mulholland MW. Design Principles for Building a Leadership Development Program in a Department of Surgery. Ann Surg. 2018 Jan;267(1):39-41. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000002424. PMID: 28708634.