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Home > Vascular Annual Meeting > SS28. Who Is the Integrated 0+5 Vascular Surgery...

SS28. Who Is the Integrated 0+5 Vascular Surgery Residency Applicant?

Jason T. Lee1, Mediget Teshome1, Christian de Virgilio2, Ronald L. Dalman1
1Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA;2Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA

OBJECTIVES: The 0+5 integrated vascular surgery residency has altered the training paradigm for future vascular specialists. Rising interest in these novel programs highlights our need to better understand the applicant pool. We surveyed recent applicants to our integrated program to gain more insight into their background and motivation for accelerated vascular training.

METHODS: Responses from 53 integrated vascular surgery (VS) residency applicants were compared to general surgery (GS) residency applicants (n=33) at a different institution. There was no overlap of applicants between programs. Applicants were queried regarding their background, personal experience, prior exposure to vascular surgery, and motivations for residency selection via an anonymous and voluntary web-based survey.

RESULTS: Demographics and prior exposures to vascular surgery are outlined in Table 1. The majority of career choices (65%) were made during the third and fourth years of medical school. Factors strongly influencing the decision to choose VS as a career were challenging open vascular operations (87.5%), endovascular technologies (92.3%), and vascular surgeon mentorship (75%). The most common reasons cited for pursuing integrated 0+5 VS training were 1) more focused training/integration of cardiovascular medicine (90.4%), 2) interest in catheter-based endovascular therapies (86.3%), and 3) shorter time in training (69.3%). Of the GS applicants, 58% indicated they would apply to an integrated residency in their sub-specialty of interest, and 45% listed vascular surgery as a potential fellowship option after general surgery.

CONCLUSIONS: Applicants to 0+5 integrated vascular residencies were more likely to have rotated on a vascular surgery service, observed vascular cases, identified a vascular surgery mentor, and been involved in cardiovascular research. Institutional strategies to increase medical student exposure to vascular surgery will optimize our ability to attract and train optimal candidates.

AUTHOR DISCLOSURES: J.T. Lee, None; M. Teshome, None; C. de Virgilio, None; R.L. Dalman, None.

Table 1.