Reunión anual de médicos residentes de Cirugía Cardiovascular: 10 años después

In 1995, the then called Spanish Society of Cardiovascular Surgery (SECCV) and the multinational corporation Medtronic decided to organize a meeting dedicated to the surgical residents in training. This meeting has been organized every year with the exception of 2002. The objectives have been to organize a continuous education programme with lectures and practical activities paying special attention to the Workshop of Experimental Surgery. This meeting would allow the enhancement of professional and personal relations between the trainees and the teachers. The first five meetings were organized in Spain. The European period was defined by the joint organization of the SECTCV and the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery (EACTS). The recently initiated period with the meeting hold in Palma de Mallorca in 2005 represents the consolidation of the activities of the SECTCV through a new structure and rules. All aspects of the teaching programme in cardiovascular surgery as it is organized in Spain have been covered. This teaching programme has been very successful due to the cooperation of all the involved parts, namely the teachers, the trainees, the industry and the scientific societies and also because of the improvement in the human and professional quality of the future cardiovascular surgeons.