Welcome to AMSA's Surgery Specialty Forum

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

• Promoting learning and critical thinking.
  • Helping the list members learn how to create a plan to achieve their goal of becoming a surgeon.
  • Stimulating open discussions.
    
    
• Providing a resource for learning.
  • 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 listserve guidlines.

RESOURCES

Residency

• 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.
  
  
• 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 (17 K PDF)
  • How to interview for a residency position by L.D. Brit, MD, FACS (215 K 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.
  
  
• Women In Surgery Conference – Chicago, Illinois
  Students are encouraged to attend. May 21, 2009 – Free Registration

Education

• 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

• 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.
  
  
• Smile Train
• Operation Smile
• Global Health International Surgery Program at OHSU
• 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
• Mednets Cardiovascular Surgery - many cardiac and vascular surgery links
• 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

Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery

• PediHeart - Covers various pathologies in detal and their surgical treatments
• Kids Heart Surgery - minimally invasive surgery