Survey of minimally invasive surgery fellowship programs

Since there was no accrediting body for minimally invasive surgery fellowships, this investigation was performed to characterize minimally invasive surgery fellowships.

All minimally invasive surgery fellowships that were noted on the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons website in July 2002 were sent a survey. Only those fellowships that had fellow(s) for the year 2001-2002 were included in the survey. All programs were contacted a second time if the survey was not returned. Incomplete responses were not included in the data.

There were 78 fellowships listed, of which 16 had no fellow in 2001-2002, one which was not a minimally invasive surgery fellowship, and one which was listed twice. Of the 19 (32%) programs that responded, there was an average of 1.3 clinical fellows per program (range, 1-3). All clinical fellowships were of one year duration. There was an average of 3.2 attendings for each program. Thirty-two percent of program directors had attended a laparoscopic fellowship. The average program received 50 applications and interviewed 12 applicants for the year 2001-2002. The average fellow had 14 (range, 0-42) manuscripts, abstracts, and/or presentations either completed or in progress. Average minimally invasive cases performed was bariatric 95, colon 33, solid organ (liver, spleen, kidney, adrenal) 32, antireflux 36, hernia 54, and endoscopy 48. However, the range of these cases varied and the lowest number of cases for each category was bariatric 5, colon 3, solid organ 8, antireflux 1, hernia 6, and endoscopy 0.

Minimally invasive surgery fellowships seem to be competitive for surgical residents. These fellowships vary in both research and clinical experience.