Surgical careers and preparedness of graduating residents--an outcomes-based study

PURPOSE: Outcome-based measures have recently become the focus of residency program evaluations. The ultimate outcome of a surgical training program is the successful development of surgical careers by its graduates. METHODS: We developed a survey that was sent to all residents completing our surgical residency from 1989 to 1999 in order to evaluate practice location, type of practice, practice mixture, additional training obtained after residency, Board certification, and membership in the American College (ACS) or other professional societies. Graduates were asked to report their impression of their residency education program's ability to prepare them for surgical practice as well as to give an overall opinion of their training using a scale of 10 (high) to 1 (low). Solicitations were also made for means to improve the training program. RESULTS: Of 32 graduates sent surveys, 30 responded (94%). A total of 29 of 30 responding graduates (97%) are active in surgery. A total of 26 of 30 graduates are in private or government practice, 3 of 30 are full-time academic, and 1 of 30 is completing fellowship training. A total of 13 of 30 (43%) immediately entered practice, whereas 17 of 30 (57%) received additional fellowship training. Board certification has been achieved by 24 graduates. A total of 17 of 30 (59%) are members of the ACS, and 24 of 30 (83%) are members of at least 1 regional or specialty society. The average score for practice preparedness was 8.35. Overall score for the residency program was 8.7. Specific graduate comments demonstrated a perceived need for additional vascular and oncology operative experience that led to changes in our program. These results demonstrate an overall high satisfaction with our training program by graduates over the past 10 years as well as high success rate as evidenced by successful surgical practices by 97% of our graduates. CONCLUSIONS: We believe this type of outcome information provides valuable feedback to programs with regard to planning and development based on the types of careers graduates choose as well as specific changes in curriculum based on perceived deficiencies.