Surgical Innovation Discovery Course: Utilizing Surgical Trainee Agile Innovation and Empowerment (STAIR) Framework to Promote Innovation Amongst Surgical Residents

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Innovation education programs can help guide and empower surgeons and surgical trainees through the many steps to analyze and de-risk novel ideas to impact healthcare or care delivery. Providing quality programming that is conducive to a surgeon's busy schedule is an ongoing challenge, but even more so for a surgical trainees’ schedule. Through a needs assessment and applying lean principles, the “Surgical Trainee Agile Innovation and empoweRment” (STAIR) framework was created to encourage surgical trainees to participate in innovation programming.

OBJECTIVE

Numerous works have explored the design and development of learning experiences to support physician innovators. However, there is a lack of evidence supporting frameworks that contribute to innovation empowerment for surgical trainees as a complement to the demands of clinical practice. The following catalogs the systematic design and development of a novel innovation and discovery agile framework tailored to surgical residents with original innovation ideas.

DESIGN AND SETTING

The course designed to implement the “Surgical Trainee Agile Innovation and empoweRment” (STAIR) is funded through the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan. It is an 8-week team-based innovation course designed for surgical residents to learn and apply fundamental innovation concepts to clinical problems.

PARTICIPANTS AND RESULTS

Surgical trainees in all programs at the host institution are all eligible to participate. A total of four innovation teams were selected to participate in inaugural course.

CONCLUSIONS

The novel instructional design and development of this course encouraged participation in surgical innovation programming. The course aided the development of innovative ideas and inspired interest in innovation among surgical trainees. The STAIR framework is exemplary for inspiring and facilitating innovation among surgical trainees, enhancing the professional experience.