American Medical Student Association

Surgery Specialty Forum

The Surgery Specialty Forum provides a forum for medical students, premedical students and practicing physicains with the goal of:

• Helping the list members learn how to create a plan to achieve their goal of becoming a surgeon.
• Stimulating open discussions.
   

• Join our listserv - Together our knowledge pool is greater than any one contributor. The list provides an opportunity to ask questions, learn from the experience of others, and leverage each other's knowledge. Please feel free post clinical cases (even hypothetical) that you would like the list to consult on, remembering NOT to include any information that may be give any clue to a real patient. This list is not secure or limited, so post accordingly. All posts to the list must be in accordance with the listserv guidlines.

Residency Resources

• American College of Surgeons' Online Guide for Choosing a Residency
   
• American Board of Surgery
   
• Scutwork.com - A residency program review written by the residents themselves!
   
• The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is responsible for the accreditation of post-MD medical training programs within the United States. Accreditation is accomplished through a peer review process and is based upon established standards and guidelines.
   
• So You Want to Be a Surgeon - an ACS publication to help students understand what's involved in becoming a surgeon and finding a residency
   
• Association of Program Directors in Surgery - contact information for surgery residency directors across the U.S. to address specific questions regarding various surgical residency programs
   
• Program Director Survey Results - This report presents the results of selected items from the 2008 NRMP Program Director Survey. Data are reported for 19 specialties and include: (1) factors used for granting interviews and ranking applicants; (2) use of USMLE exam scores; and (3) the percentage of interview slots filled prior to the November 1 release date of the MSPE. The NRMP believes program directors, school officials, and applicants will find these data useful as they prepare for and participate in the Main Residency Match. 

• ResidencyAdvisor.info
  This website allows General Surgery residency applicants to completely manage their application process. By entering an anonymous profile of their qualifications, users may compare themselves to other applicants and to determine if they may be competitive at different programs. Applicants may easily access published information about programs, review the opinions of other applicants, plan their interviews, and score their impressions of programs. Finally, the site helps applicants to develop their rank lists and to anonymously compare their rankings with others.
   

• Resources for the Aspiring Surgery Resident
  • Helpful Information for Medical Students Considering Surgery as a Career
  • How to select a residency program by Tom Gadacz, MD, FACS (pdf)
  • How to interview for a residency position by L.D. Brit, MD, FACS (pdf)
  • General Surgery Specialty Training Statistics
  • American Women in Surgery Mentoring Program
  • American Women in Surgery Pocket Mentor
  • American Women in Surgery Career Development Resources
     
• Essentials of Matching in General Surgery
  Learn what over 140 Surgical Residency Program Directors and Residency Coordinators have to say about matching in surgical residency. This is is a quick and easy reference to make sure you are the right track for a successful match.
   
• Medical College of Wisconsin was recently approved for a 6 year integrated program which accepts students directly out of medical school (as opposed to the traditional 5 years general surgery followed by 2-3 years of thoracic surgery). They are listed in FREIDA and will be participating in the upcoming NRMP sponsored match.  Please refer to their website for more information.
  

Education Resources

• Association of Women Surgeons - a unique organization inspiring and encouraging females in surgery
   
• OR-live.com is a free web site where anyone can stream live and archival videos of surgical procedures. The broadcasts also feature commentary from experts making the site an exceptional resource for those interested in pursuing a career in surgery.
   
• The Association of Surgical Education
   
• The Surgery Summer School
  July 13-26, 2009 in Iasi, Romania
  Application Deadline: April 1, 2009
  Number of Participants: 20 students
  Experience the opportunity to learn from the greatest surgeons in Iasi, to practice and work together with them during lectures, lab-work and hospital visits. You will also take part in relaxing trips to the most fascinating tourist attractions in Romania: Castle of Dracula, Bucegi Mountains, Peles Castle, the Danube Delta and the Black Sea. Take the challenge and find out if you are really ready to be a surgeon
   
• A Surgeon's Memoir Of 'Full Face Transplant' - Listen to this great interview with the surgeon who led the team of the first full facial transplant in the U.S.!

Global Health Resources

• Center for Surgery and Public Health
   
• Surgery and Global Health: A View from Beyond the OR.  World Journal of Surgery
   
• Increasing access to surgical services for the poor in rural Haiti: Surgery as a public good for public health. Ivers LC, Garfein ES, Augustin J, Raymonville A, Yang AT, Sugarbaker D, Farmer PE. World Journal of Surgery
   
• The Safe Surgery Saves Lives Campaign announced the results of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist Pilot Study were published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist reduced the rate of deaths and complications by more than one third in eight pilot hospitals (located in Toronto, Canada; New Delhi, India; Amman, Jordan; Auckland, New Zealand; Manila, Philippines; Ifakara, Tanzania; London, UK; Seattle, USA).  The rate of major inpatient complications dropped from 11% to 7% and inpatient death rate following major operations fell from 1.5% to 0.8% after implementation of the checklist.  The effect was of similar magnitude in both high and low/middle income country sites. The full text of the paper is available free of charge as an Online First publication at www.nejm.org (direct link). It will appear in print in the January 29th issue of NEMJ. Learn more about the Safe Surgery Saves Lives Project at www.safesurg.org or www.who.int/safesurgery.

• Increasing Access to Surgical Services in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for National and International Agencies Recommended by the Bellagio Essential Surgery Group
  The Bellagio Essential Surgery Group (BESG), a network of surgeons, anesthesiologists, public health professionals, economists, and policy makers, was formed to advocate for increased access to surgery in Africa to reduce the surgical burden of disease. The BESG builds on and collaborates with the significant work of the WHO in promoting surgical and trauma care. The WHO Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care is a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders committed to reducing death and disability in injuries, pregnancy-related complications, and congenital anomalies, and was the first coordinated effort on emergency and essential surgical care. WHO Essential Trauma Care Project aims to set reasonable, affordable minimum standards for the care of injured persons worldwide and defines the human and physical resources necessary to ensure these services.
   

• Smile Train 
• Operation Smile 
• Learn about Disease Prevention through surgical intervention 
• Surgical Task Shifting in Sub-Saharan Africa 
• The “Other” Neglected Diseases in Global Public Health: Surgical Conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cardiothoracic Surgery Links

• Cardiothoracic Surgery Net - excellent general reference for cardiothoracic surgery. Includes a full text cardiac surgery book, videos of various procedures, clinical situation simulators and many other multimedia resources.
• Heart Surgery Forum - multimedia journal and lectures, videos of procedures, etc 
• Cardiothoracic Surgery at NYU - articles, full-length surgical procedure videos and case studies
• Heart Linx - excellent general cardiology reference 

Cardiothoracic Surgery Organizations

• American College of Cardiology 
• Society of Thoracic Surgeons 
• American Heart Association 
• American Association of Thoracic Surgeons 
• American Board of Thoracic Surgery 
• European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery 
• Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education