HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Mario G. Gasparri William B. Tisol Saqib Masroor Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gasparri, M. G. Articles by Masroor, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gasparri, M. G. Articles by Masroor, S. Related Collections Education

---

Original Articles: Adult Cardiac

Impact of a Six-Year Integrated Thoracic Surgery Training Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin

Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Accepted for publication November 2, 2011.

^_* Address correspondence to Dr Gasparri, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, 9200 W Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53226 (Email: mgasparr{at}mcw.edu).

Presented at the Forty-seventh Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, San Diego, CA, Jan 31–Feb 2, 2011.

Background: Thoracic residency program enrollment continues to decline. While job market and decreasing reimbursements are often cited as the main reasons, length of and format of training may also be significant.

Methods: The Medical College of Wisconsin established an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved 6-year integrated thoracic training program. The number and characteristics of applicants to the 6-year program were then compared with previous applicants applying to the traditional 2-year program.

Results: Applicants to the 6-year integrated program scored higher on the United States Medical Licensing Examination part 1 and part 2 than previous applicants to the traditional2-year program. The 6-year applicants also were more published and a greater percentage of them held other advanced degrees.

Conclusions: Institution of a 6-year integrated thoracic surgery training program at the Medical College of Wisconsin led to a significant increase in number of applications. Additionally, the 6-year applicants appeared to be more academically accomplished than previous applicants to the traditional 2-year program. While early in the experience, it appears that interest in thoracic surgery is high among medical students and institution of a 6-year program has the potential to once again attract the "best and the brightest" to this specialty.