Union Memorial Hospital: an insight to the origin of community-based surgical training

Community-based surgical training centers comprise almost half of the current ACGME-approved programs. Yet the histories of these community hospital programs have not been defined clearly. University programs were founded with the time-honored mission to deliver patient care, teaching, and research. We feel that early community programs developed with close ties to university programs before diverging in their evolution. As successful university faculty expanded their elective surgical practice, they often admitted patients to private hospitals, most in close proximity to their university hospitals. Many surgeons maintained joint appointments on the university and private hospital staffs, whereas others left the university staff to focus their efforts on their clinical practice. The more prominent clinicians continued to attract students interested in apprenticeships in surgery; and community based training programs developed that focused primarily on patient care and teaching. We review the history of our program that we feel illustrates this process.