The Academic Surgeon - Official Blog of the AAS

Introduction about feedback Giving feedback to others often comes easy, however knowing what to do with feedback from others is not as easy. Busy surgical residents often receive volumes of feedback in the operating room, outpatient settings, and regarding their general performance within the residency. Several authors have discussed the importance of timeliness (REF) and […]

Soliciting and receiving feedback is an essential component of leadership and professional development, particularly in the context of graduate medical education.  For female surgical trainees, obtaining constructive feedback from colleagues and superiors may be more challenging than for their male counterparts.  Women in the workplace are 1.4 times as likely to receive critical subjective feedback, […]

Love it or hate it, writing is the currency of academia. Grants, protocols, and manuscripts are all types of writing that the successful academic surgeon must produce, both in high quantity and quality. A busy or unpredictable clinical practice can make it difficult to write well. Below are some practical tips for academic surgeons to […]

I’m now mid-way through my fourth year as faculty and I did something this year for the first time over twelve years spanning medical school, general surgery residency, fellowship, and the first few years of my faculty position—I’ve never completely unplugged from work and really allowed myself to become immersed in vacation.  Maybe part of […]

On August 22nd 2016, the American Board of Surgery (ABS) announced the newly defined category minimum numbers approved by the RRC-Surgery for residents graduating in the 2017-2018 academic year.1 An increase in the minimum number of total operative procedures from 750 to 850 procedures was approved. There was also an increase in the minimum number […]

First there were competencies, the fairly abstract and theoretical “big buckets” of skills the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) defined in 2003 that graduates of residency training should be proficient in.  Partially in response to faculty members’ concerns that they weren’t sure how to adequately assess their residents’ “systems-based practice” or “practice-based learning […]

There is much excitement surrounding the upcoming Academic Surgical Congress (ASC) in Jacksonville!  Thank you to the Program Chairs, Dr. Becke White and Dr. Eugene Kim, and ASC Core Committee for their amazing work in putting together such an engaging program! As we approach the final days leading up to the ASC, I wanted to […]