[Medical education and surgical residency program for general thoracic surgery]

We introduced medical education for general thoracic surgery to medical students and a new surgical residency program to instruct residents who aspire to become general thoracic surgeons. It is important to understand the etiology of thoracic diseases, methods of diagnosis for tumorous lesions, anatomy of the interior thorax, surgical therapies and indications for thoracic diseases, and management of perioperative periods in the medical education of general thoracic surgery. According to the new residency program, a surgical resident must complete a super rotating system that consists of the subjects of internal medicine, general surgery, emergency and critical care medicine, anesthesiology, pediatrics, gynecology, and local healthcare for several months each in the first two years. On the other hand, a surgical residency program includes core surgical residencies to train clinical patient-care oriented surgeons and advanced residencies in such areas as thoracic surgery, cardiovascular surgery, pediatric surgery, and digestive organ surgery. Residents who want to become general thoracic surgeons must complete 350 cases of general surgery including at least 120 cases for an operator in the first 4 or more years in core programs. After passing the board for general surgery, they can advance to a subspecialty program for thoracic surgery in the final 3 or more years to pass the board for general thoracic surgery. It is essential to train the general thoracic surgeons who empathize with patients with thoracic diseases and can contribute to overcoming thoracic diseases by practicing evidence- or science-based medicine.