Impact of a surgical oncologist on general surgery residency training program.
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.
Gamblin
T Clark
TC
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
Dalton
Martin L
ML
Morgan
Joe H
JH
Christie
Dudley B
DB
Vogel
Robert L
RL
Dale
Paul S
PS
D005180:Faculty, Medical; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000592:standards*; D008495:Medical Oncology; D014481:United States