Residents' Perceptions of Plastic Surgeons as Craniofacial Surgery Specialists.

[OBJECTIVE] To assess residents' perceptions of plastic surgeons as craniofacial surgery specialists in Brazil.

[METHODS] Brazilian residents were asked to choose 1 or 2 specialists that they perceived to be an expert for 14 craniofacial surgery-related scenarios. Both an overall analysis (all 14 scenarios) and subanalysis (each scenario separately) were performed. Response patterns were distributed as "plastic surgeons alone," "plastic surgeons combined with other specialists," or "without plastic surgeons."

[RESULTS] Overall, plastic surgeons were chosen more (all P < 0.05) as experts than all other specialists. The subanalysis showed that plastic surgeons were chosen more (all P < 0.05) as experts than other specialists in 50% of craniofacial surgery-related scenarios and also demonstrated that "plastic surgeons alone" and "without plastic surgeons" were selected more (all P < 0.05) than other response patterns in 31.71% and 42.86% of scenarios, respectively. General surgery residents and male residents chose more (all P < 0.05) plastic surgeons as experts than their peers.

[CONCLUSION] Residents' perceptions of plastic surgeons as craniofacial surgery specialists are limited in Brazil.