Evaluating Procedural Dermatology Education During Residency

The March 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology reported the results of the 2009 survey by Lee et al (“Procedural dermatology training during dermatology residency: a survey of third-year dermatology residents” 64:475-483) that was reviewed in detail at the weekly UTMB dermatology journal club last week. One striking difference noted between the results of this survey and the UTMB dermatology resident experience was in the number of Mohs layers taken (Table II, page 478). 22% of survey respondents indicated that they took greater than 50 Mohs layers during residency, but at UTMB all of the PGY3 dermatology residents achieved that level of expertise during their Mohs rotation. The most recent composite data from the ACGME for the UTMB Class of 2010 (3 residents) showed that UTMB dermatology residents had performed, as the primary resident surgeon, 18 skin grafts (national average = 8), 39 flaps (national average = 19) and 97 Mohs cases (which may have more than one layer involved), with the national average for Mohs = 63. UTMB dermatology residents also reported more experience in fillers (14 vs 5) and neurotoxin (15 vs 9) as the primary resident surgeon.