Surgical EducationSurgery resident participation in short-term humanitarian international surgical missions can supplement exposure where program case volumes are low

- General surgery training programs are facing declining case volume and case diversity.
- Resident interest in international rotations is high but opportunites to participate are limited.
- During missions surgical residents perform an average of 25 cases in 5-7 days.
- Two-thirds of cases performed on missions were in low volume categories in our program.
- Participating in international surgical missions can increase residents' clinical and operative skills.

BackgroundGeneral 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.MethodsAccreditation 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.ResultsAll 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.ConclusionsInternational 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.