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Landmark lecture on surgery: paediatric cardiothoracic surgery – training the next generation of congenital heart surgeons*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2017

Vaughn A. Starnes  and
Maura E. Sullivan
Vaughn A. Starnes*
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
Maura E. Sullivan
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America Simulation Education, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
*
Correspondence to: M. E. Sullivan, PhD, Professor of Clinical Surgery, Department of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America. Tel: 323 442 8040; Fax: 323 442 2503; E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Introduction

Recent changes in surgical education have had an impact on our congenital training programmes. The mandate of the 8-hour workweek, a rapidly expanding knowledge base, and a host of other mandates has had an impact on the readiness of the fellows who are entering congenital programmes. To understand these issues completely, we interviewed the top congenital experts in the United States of America. The purpose of this paper is to share their insight and offer suggestions to address these challenges.

Methods

We used a qualitative thematic analysis approach and performed phone interviews with the top five congenital experts in the United States of America.

Results

Experts unanimously felt that duty-hour restrictions have negatively affected congenital training programmes in the following ways: current fellows do not seem as conditioned as fellows in the past, patient handoffs are not consistent with excellent performance, the mentor–mentee relationship has been affected by duty-hour restrictions, and fellows may be less prepared for real-world practice. Three positive themes emerged in response to duty-hour restrictions: fellows appear to be doing less menial task work, fellows are now better rested for learning, and we are attracting more individuals into the speciality. Experts agreed that congenital fellowships should be increased to 2 years. There was support for both the traditional and integrated residency pathways.

Discussion

We are in a new era of education and must work together to overcome the challenges that have arisen in recent years.

Keywords

Congenital trainingsurgical educationskill acquisition
Type
Original Articles
Information
Cardiology in the Young , Volume 27 , Special Issue 10: Proceedings of the 2017 7th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS 2017) Barcelona, Spain July 16–21, 2017 , December 2017 , pp. 1986 - 1990
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

*

Presented at the 2017 Seventh World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS 2017), Barcelona, Spain, July 16–21, 2017. Presented Friday, July 21, 2017.

References

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