Surgery resident participation in short-term humanitarian international surgical missions can supplement exposure where program case volumes are low.
BACKGROUND
General surgery training programs face declining case volume and diversity. We wanted to determine if resident participation in international surgical missions would increase exposure to cases underrepresented in our program case mix.


METHODS
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education program data from 2008 to 2011 (University of Medicine and Dentistry-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ) were analyzed to identify categories where volume was below national average. This was compared with case logs from 3 missions conducted by International Surgical Health Initiatives between 2011 and 2012.


RESULTS
All chief residents completed more than minimum required index cases. Categories head and neck, alimentary tract, abdomen, and endocrine showed percentile below national average. Seven residents participated in 3 missions to Philippines and Sierra Leone. Sixty-five percent of the operations performed were in the 4 low-volume categories.


CONCLUSIONS
International surgery missions expose residents to a high volume and variety of cases. Participation can be one way to increase case volume and diversity during training. Cases completed on missions with board certified surgeons should be considered for Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education credit.
Department of Surgery, Palisades Medical Center, 7600 River Road, North Bergen, NJ 07047, USA. Electronic address: Abale@palisadesmedical.org.
Asha G
AG
Bale
Department of Surgery, Rutgers University New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
Ziad C
ZC
Sifri
D000533:Altruism; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods*; D008493:Medical Missions; D009515:New Jersey; D010679:Philippines; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012807:Sierra Leone; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000193:education* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
Case logs; Education; General surgery residency; Global surgery; International humanitarian missions; Surgery missions