title: Impact of a surgical oncologist on general surgery residency training program.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To assess the impact of adding a surgical oncologist to our faculty we examined the operative experience in our program before and after the addition.
  
  
  METHODS
  Operative case numbers reported to the American Board of Surgery over a 10-year period were analyzed. This time period encompassed 5 years before and after the addition of a surgical oncologist to our faculty. All defined category case numbers were examined using t test analysis. Significance was defined as a P value of less than 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall caseload increased in the time period after the faculty addition. There was a statistically significant increase in skin/soft tissue, breast, esophagus, small intestine, large intestine, live, spleen, and endocrine cases. No statistical significance was seen in head/neck, stomach, pancreas, and biliary cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The addition of a surgical oncologist to our faculty coincides with a statistically significant increase in areas of skin/soft tissue, breast, esophagus, small intestine, large intestine, liver, spleen, and endocrine. Other areas not statistically significant may reflect referral patterns or this particular oncologist's preferences of practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Mercer University School of Medicine, Medical Center of Central Georgia, 777 Hemlock St., HB 140, Macon, GA 31201, USA. gamblins@aol.com
authors.forename: T Clark
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Gamblin
authors.forename: Martin L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Dalton
authors.forename: Joe H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Dudley B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Christie
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Dale
mesh_terms: D005180:Faculty, Medical; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000592:standards*; D008495:Medical Oncology; D014481:United States