A. R. Joshi1,2, H. Miller1, G. Kowdley3, C. Are5, P. Termuhlen4 2Thomas Jefferson University,Surgery,Philadelphia, PA, USA 3Saint Agnes Hospital,Surgery,Baltimore, MD, USA 4Medical College Of Wisconsin,Surgery,Milwaukee, WI, USA 5Nebraska Medical Center,Surgery,Omaha, NE, USA 1Einstein Healthcare Network,Surgery,Philadelphia, PA, USA
Introduction: Public Health is the science of preventing and treating disease on a societal level. Recently, a consortium of organizations have begun to examine public health training (PHT) during general surgery residency training. In order to make recommendations for changing future PHT in surgical education, we analyzed the current state of PHT in general surgery residency programs in the US.
Methods: We conducted an online 24-question anonymous e-mail survey to target surgeon educators about their opinions on PHT in surgery.
Results: A total of 48 surgical educators completed the survey, representing 20% of the 250 general surgery training programs nationwide. 51% were university programs and 49% community programs. 72% were urban, 4% rural, and 23% suburban. The minority of respondents offered specialized exposure to public health. 6% had formally integrated PHT into their core curriculum. 91% reported that fewer than 25% of their residents had a significant interest in public health training. 89% reported that their residents were at least somewhat satisfied with the current level of PHT in their institutions. 65% of the respondents were interested in expanding PHT for their residents.
Conclusion: There are increasing external pressures on surgical educators to incorporate PHT into residency programs. These educators believe that their trainees are generally satisfied with the current level of PHT, but are themselves interested in increasing PHT in their programs. With the advent of a Milestones-based evaluation system, it will be important to define surgery-specific aspects of PHT that can be incorporated into surgical training.