The millennials have arrived: What the surgeon educator needs to know to teach millennials

Numerous authors have described the millennial generation, defined as a cohort of people born between the early 1980s and late 1990s, as unique from preceding generations, such as Generation X and the baby boomers. Many surgical educators generally belong to elder generations, and there is some concern that intergenerational differences may be source of friction between teacher and learner. There is renewed interest in both addressing pedagogic strategies to train millennial surgery residents and providing the nonmillennial surgeon educator with instruction techniques best suited for millennials. However, surgical educators sometimes encounter or propagate uncertainties, conflicts, or stereotypes regarding millennial characteristics and ideal teaching strategies. We review the relevant literature regarding intergenerational teaching strategies as they pertain to training millennial surgery residents.