How should general surgery education be? trying to find an answer to the long-term problem based on prospective evaluation of a general surgeon's education

Abstract

Many debates about surgery education suggested that by analysing the educational programs of timetested, experienced centres. Educational data from a general surgery resident (type, number of surgeries, meetings, courses attended) at an urban university hospital were collected prospectively (2011-2016) and compared with consultancy career (2016-2018) in terms of annual mean values. The attendant participated in a total of 216.8 and 259.5 surgeries per year during his residency and consultancy (p=0.132), respectively. The 95 % confidence interval for annual mean percentage difference between residency and consultancy for 32 types of surgeries was 15-160 %. The attendant participated in an annual mean of 2.6 and 6.2 courses and 6.4 and 7.5 meetings during residency and consultancy, respectively (p=0.465). No statistical difference between residency and consultancy in terms of attendance to educational facilities and operations was found. This indicated that the consultant specialized early and is still receiving selftailored education. This result is also the outcome when the percentage difference in annual mean value of 32 types of surgeries is evaluated. Surgical residency training must be professionally planned, standardized and successfully applied. Working in surgery is a lifestyle and needs trainers of a special character, so local interviews should be done in addition to nation-wide examinations. Continuous medical education and early specialization is the backbone of current surgical education and should be replaced with a Haldestrian approach under the supervision of multiple mentors.