Residency Resource Documents

The Resident Credentialing Committee has prepared these documents as an aid for residents and their advisors. These resources are provided for optional use within ACVS residency programs, in order to facilitate the constructive evaluation of residents and the successful preparation of the residents’ logs. The evaluation forms are provided as examples only, and may be modified to fit the needs of your residency program.

• Checklist for Resident Advisors
• Large Animal Mass Removal & Wound Procedure Guidelines
• Resident Evaluation – Sample 1
• Resident Evaluation – Sample 2

ACVS is investigating competency evaluations. As a first step, all residency training programs are encouraged to implement use of the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills.

• Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS)

Suggestions on how to use the OSATS form in your training program:

• Determine the desired number of procedures to be evaluated for each six months of training. We suggest 10-20 soft tissue and 10-20 orthopedic procedures evaluated from a mix of supervising surgeons.
• The resident notifies the supervising surgeon prior to the surgery that they would like an OSATS evaluation.
• The supervising surgeon should review the form in advance so they can be more intentional in their observation of the resident’s performance and easily complete the form.
• The supervising surgeon provides the completed form to the resident advisor (RA) to collate the data.
• The RA can then present the data to the resident at their semi-annual review.
• The program director and diplomates can then also use the data from all their residents over time to have greater insight into their program and target areas they may want to address differently.