Impact of a surgical oncologist on general surgery residency training program

BACKGROUND: To assess the impact of adding a surgical oncologist to our faculty we examined the operative experience in our program before and after the addition. METHODS: Operative case numbers reported to the American Board of Surgery over a 10-year period were analyzed. This time period encompassed 5 years before and after the addition of a surgical oncologist to our faculty. All defined category case numbers were examined using t test analysis. Significance was defined as a P value of less than 0.05. RESULTS: The overall caseload increased in the time period after the faculty addition. There was a statistically significant increase in skin/soft tissue, breast, esophagus, small intestine, large intestine, live, spleen, and endocrine cases. No statistical significance was seen in head/neck, stomach, pancreas, and biliary cases. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of a surgical oncologist to our faculty coincides with a statistically significant increase in areas of skin/soft tissue, breast, esophagus, small intestine, large intestine, liver, spleen, and endocrine. Other areas not statistically significant may reflect referral patterns or this particular oncologist's preferences of practice.