Current surgery
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PURPOSE:To determine the role, organization, and importance of journal clubs in surgical education. Program directors of all general surgical residencies were asked to respond by mail to a structured survey containing questions about their journal club in the following general categories: Setting, Format, Content, and Purpose. With over 80% of the 278 program directors responding, the typical journal club was found to be one that meets once per month to discuss 3 to 6 articles. ⋯ Although journal clubs are active in over 65% of general surgery residency programs, little data exist on the purposes served by this aspect of resident training. The data provided by program directors in response to this survey will ideally serve as a starting point for discussion of how to maximize the benefits that residents receive from this part of their curriculum. Adoption of more formalized approaches to evaluating outcomes would assist in this process.
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Far forward life-saving surgical care is the mission of an army forward surgical team (FST). Trauma skill maintenance is necessary to complete that mission. A new program has been developed for FST training using the resources of a Level 1 trauma center. ⋯ CONCLUSIONS:The volume of trauma surgical cases at MAMC during 1999 was 3 times that seen in the 1-month rotation at Ben Taub. General surgeons performed more trauma and abdominal surgery at MAMC with significantly more direct involvement in patient care and operative procedures. The experience of the 250th FST does not justify trauma sustainment deployments for surgeons from military trauma centers.