Advanced GastroInstestinal(GI) Surgery Training in Residency and Fellowship.

Advanced GastroInstestinal(GI) Surgery Training in Residency and Fellowship Interest Survey for 4th and 5th Year General Surgical Residents.

The aim of this anonymous survey is to identify who teaches GI procedures to general surgical residents during residency training and understand the need as well as desire for an Advanced Surgical GI fellowship amongst senior surgical residents. We also hope to identify the self-reported level of comfort of senior general surgery residents in completing both common and complex GI procedures.

Graduating general surgery residents are faced with the difficult decision of whether to pursue further specialized surgical fellowship training or to begin independent general surgical practice. Advanced GI Fellowship is a relatively new area of fellowship surgical training, with only 8 fellowships currently recognized by the Fellowship Council of the United States. The previous survey assessed the need for such a fellowship among health systems, departments, and practice groups interested in hiring a GI surgeon. More data is coming out showing that graduating surgical residents are unprepared to independently perform core general surgery procedures. Therefore, it is vitally important to be able to understand not only who are teaching general surgery residents GI surgical procedures, but also the residents' self-reported competence with GI procedures, and personal experience and degree of comfort managing both common and complex GI surgical pathologies.

Inclusion Criteria:

All fourth and fifth year general surgery residents in accredited Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education(ACGME) general surgery residency programs in the United States.

Exclusion Criteria:

All junior general surgical residents (third year residents through interns) will be excluded from the study.