On Becoming a Master Surgeon: Role Models, Mentorship, Coaching, and Apprenticeship

Cardiothoracic surgery is a high risk, high reward specialty demanding exceptional performance for desired outcomes. Whereas the demand for technical excellence, critical thinking skills, judgment, and overall experience is clear, the pathway to optimize performance improvement after training is completed is less clear. "Role modeling," "mentorship," "coaching," and "apprenticeship" are all buzz words that have flooded the proverbial air of our specialty in recent years. The goal of this article is to describe strategies, including career development relationships, continuing medical education, and professional societal involvement, that are key to continuing to improve one's craft and identify career phases when such elements are most applicable.