Surgical education is changing, with residents having less time to learn more procedures. We aim to explore how residents prepare for the operating room and what factors impact their preparation.

A qualitative study was conducted using conventional content analysis. General surgery residents at one institution were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Each interview was recorded, transcribed verbatim, and then inductively examined to generate themes.

Fourteen residents elected to participate. Six themes were identified: (1) All participants similarly defined preparation, (2) Residents learned through trial and error and co-residents, (3) Factors impacting preparation were time, attendings, autonomy, case complexity, and difficulty finding resources, (4) Resource use varied, (5) PGY level impacted preparation and, (6) Optimal resources were high yield.

Although surgical residents similarly defined operating room preparation, they use a variety of different resources to achieve this, which is often difficult and time consuming.