Highlights from AAST - alumni corner

We're proud of former resident Jamie Jones Coleman who did an awesome presentation on acute care surgery this morning.

ACUTE CARE SURGERY: WILL THEY COME? Jamie Coleman, M.D., Thomas J. Esposito*, M.D., M.P.H., David V. Feliciano*, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine Invited Discussant: Jose Diaz Introduction: Concern over lack of resident interest due to the nonoperative nature and compromised lifestyle associated with a career as a "trauma surgeon" has led to the emergence of a new Acute Care Surgery (ACS) specialty. This study examines the opinions of current general surgical residents about training and careers in this new field. Methods: A 36 item online anonymous survey regarding ACS was sent to the program directors of 55 randomly selected general surgery training programs for distribution to their categorical residents. The national sample consisted of 1515 PGY 1-5 trainees. Results: Response rate was 46%. Over 90% of residents had an appropriate understanding of the components of ACS as generally described (trauma, surgical critical care [SCC], emergency general surgery). Nearly half (46%) of all respondents have considered ACS as a career. Overall, ACS ranked as the 2nd most appealing career ahead of SCC and Trauma, but behind General Surgery (GS). A large majority of residents believed ACS offers better or equivalent case complexity (88.2%), scope of practice (83.7%), case volume (75.4%), and level of reimbursement (69%) than GS alone. Respondents who answered ACS had a better scope of practice (61% vs 36%), lifestyle as an attending (77% vs 34%), or level of reimbursement (83% vs 38%) compared to GS were twice as likely (p<0.0001) to have considered ACS as a career. Overall, 40% of residents believed ACS offers a worse lifestyle in comparison to GS. Conclusion: These results suggest that there is notable interest in the "new" specialty of ACS. The level of resident interest in ACS as a fellowship and career may be increased by marketing positively viewed aspects of practice and addressing negative perceptions related to lifestyle. It may be appealing to add an elective GS component to certain ACS practice options.