Residency Training Pathways of Program Directors and Chiefs/Chairs in Plastic Surgery

Medical students interested in plastic surgery may become discouraged by barriers to career development during residency training. This study surveyed plastic surgery program directors (PDs) and chiefs/chairs to highlight the pathway followed by academic leaders in these positions.

A self-administered anonymous survey was sent to a list of 189 PDs and chiefs/chairs identified via plastic surgery residency programs' websites. Chi-squared tests assessed answer distributions.

Of the 189 recipients (25.9%), 49 completed the survey. Respondents' medical school graduation range was 1973-2009. Seventeen respondents entered a plastic surgery residency directly after medical school, and 32 began in another specialty. Comparison between these two groups showed no significant differences in preference rank of their program (P = 0.671). A total of 18 respondents conducted an academic enrichment year, but timing of this year differed significantly based on the initial specialty match (P = 0.012). There was no significant perceived difficulty in gaining recognition by gender (P = 0.107) or race (P = 0.125). Six respondents did not match into the specialty of first choice; five did not complete their initial residency programs; three did not match into plastic surgery at first attempt.

Information on residency training pathways and barriers to career development of current academic leaders will improve transparency as to potential stumbling blocks that current PDs and chief/chairs of plastic surgery residency programs have faced during their initial training. This will help current trainees anticipate these stumbling blocks and place these in perspective based on the experience of senior plastic surgeons.