The educational foundation for acute care surgery: Evolution of the specialty

Acute care surgery (ACS) was conceived in the early 2000s in response to a growing crisis in access to emergency general surgical care. The ACS fellowship was created to train general surgeons in this subspecialty. The purpose of this review is to discuss the origin of ACS and its evolution over the last 20 years and to survey the subspecialty's current status and future directions. Since the first programs were certified in 2008, the fellowship curriculum has undergone many changes. There is now more emphasis on emergency general surgery and a movement toward competency-based evaluations. Additionally, pediatrics and burn subtracks have been developed, and other programs emphasizing robotic surgery are being created. The didactic curriculum has been updated, and new programs highlighting community and networking, such as the Meet the Mentors discussions, fellow journal club, and boot camp, have also been formed. Acute care surgery has effectively leveraged the knowledge base of trauma surgery and surgical critical care to meet the changing needs of the healthcare system. Acute care surgery surgeons are well positioned for leadership roles both locally and nationally. Future challenges include building a more robust research base and further highlighting the scope and brand of ACS. ACS as a subspecialty has matured over the last two decades. In the coming years, ACS will continue to adapt to meet the needs of patients suffering from acute surgical illness or injury.