Impact of Integrated Vascular Residencies on Academic Productivity within Vascular Surgery Divisions.
BACKGROUND
Changing training paradigms in vascular surgery have been introduced to reduce overall training time. Herein, we sought to examine how shortened training for vascular surgeons may have influenced overall divisional academic productivity.


METHODS
Faculty from the top 55 surgery departments were identified according to National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Academic metrics of 315 vascular surgery, 1,132 general surgery, and 2,403 other surgical specialties faculty were examined using institutional Web sites, Scopus, and NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools from September 1, 2014, to January 31, 2015. Individual-level and aggregate numbers of publications, citations, and NIH funding were determined.


RESULTS
The mean size of the vascular divisions was 5 faculty. There was no correlation between department size and academic productivity of individual faculty members (R2= 0.68, P = 0.2). Overall percentage of vascular surgery faculty with current or former NIH funding was 20%, of which 10.8% had major NIH grants (R01/U01/P01). Vascular surgery faculty associated with integrated vascular training programs demonstrated significantly greater academic productivity. Publications and citations were higher for vascular surgery faculty from institutions with both integrated and traditional training programs (48 of 1,051) compared to those from programs with integrated training alone (37 of 485) or traditional fellowships alone (26 of 439; P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
In this retrospective examination, academic productivity was improved within vascular surgery divisions with integrated training programs or both program types. These data suggest that the earlier specialization of integrated residencies in addition to increasing dedicated vascular training time may actually help promote research within the field of vascular surgery.
Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
Bradford J
BJ
Kim
Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
Nakul P
NP
Valsangkar
Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
Tiffany W
TW
Liang
Division of Vascular Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
Michael P
MP
Murphy
Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
Teresa A
TA
Zimmers
Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
Teresa M
TM
Bell
Division of Vascular Surgery, The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX.
Mark G
MG
Davies
Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN. Electronic address: lkoniari@iu.edu.
Leonidas G
LG
Koniaris
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D001319:Authorship; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods*; D002321:Career Choice; D003479:Curriculum; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D004526:Efficiency; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013038:Specialization; D066231:Surgeons / Q000193:education*; D013997:Time Factors; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000193:education*; D000078329:Workforce