title: Cardiothoracic surgery training in Israel: A critical look at the past, aiming for a better future.
abstract: Training the next generation of cardiothoracic surgeons is a global persistent challenge. Major issues, including length of training, decreasing volume of cases, shift toward high-risk, complex, and less-invasive procedures, increased specialization, and uncertainty with regard to future employment, are relevant and affect residency training programs in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world. To produce high-quality, mature, and qualified surgeons, these challenges mandate an ongoing effort by our specialty leadership aimed at identifying creative solutions and adapting the current residency training curricula and methodology to the dynamic changes in our field. The current situation in Israel is discussed with the hope that sharing our experience might be useful and lead to adoption of some of our solutions by other countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. Electronic address: ozshapira@hadassah.org.il.
authors.forename: Oz M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Shapira
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Soroka Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Gideon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sahar
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Ehud
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raanani
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation; D002568:Certification; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D007557:Israel; D013903:Thoracic Surgery / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends
keywords: cardiothoracic surgery; education; residents; training programs