Journal of the American College of Surgeons
-
Surgical residency training aims to prepare the surgical resident to become an independent practitioner of surgery. Because surgical residency training remains the sole educational channel to prepare surgeons for independent practice, our study aimed to explore the effect of resident involvement in surgery across a broad spectrum of surgical specialties to answer questions patients, surgeons, and surgical residency program directors may have concerning the effect of having residents participate in performing surgical operations. ⋯ Our study confirms that, across different surgical subspecialties, resident involvement in surgery is associated with comparable morbidity and lower mortality outcomes. This provides a reassuring answer to patients, attending surgeons, and surgical program directors.