[Trauma education of general surgery residents]

Educating residents in surgery, especially in trauma surgery, and the best way to teach it among the other subspecialties of surgery, is a topic heavily debated in recent literature. Several important factors affecting this learning have changed lately. Many educators have expressed concern about the adequacy of the exposure of surgical residents to surgery and of their ability to care for their patients, with the newly imposed legal constraints on the length of shifts and working hours. Since trauma is inherently unpredictable, residents must spend many hours in the emergency department to become exposed to various types of trauma. Some will only see a small number of trauma patients during their residency, depending on the location of hospital and its commitment to trauma. Furthermore, the operative exposure in trauma has decreased dramatically, with the current trend of non-operative management of blunt splenic and hepatic trauma and conservatism in the management of some stable patients injured by penetrating mechanisms. Similar concerns have also been raised about the exposure of attending surgeons to surgical trauma practice. In most centers in Israel, the trauma patient is managed by a general surgery specialist rather than by a trauma-specialized general surgeon. This may lead to dilution of trauma cases among multiple medical providers and furthermore, to inconsistency in the delivery of care. Consequently, this may effect the education of surgical residents. We therefore suggest a structured curriculum for general surgery residents as well as structural changes in the department of surgery to increase the caseload of general surgeons especially those choosing to specialize in trauma.