Training Residents And Their Mentors

The objectives of the EtE course were derived from national surveys of U.S.-based cardiothoracic surgery faculty and residents. The findings from these surveys guided EtE course codirectors, Dr. Stephen C. Yang of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Dr. Ara Vaporciyan of the University of Texas, Houston, according to the JCTSE.

The 2.5-day program focused on the effective delivery of skills-based education (simulation and intraoperative teaching) and methods to convert educational efforts into career advancement (grants and promotion); it included adult learning theory, how to teach in the operating room, curriculum development and implementation, how to improve assessment skills, and how to use the science of education as a faculty advancement tool.

The goal of the program, according to the JCTSE, is to better prepare attendees to enhance educational efforts at their home institution. This enhancement may come in the form of initiating a skills laboratory with a complete curriculum or developing a separate program to address a specific educational need.

Dr. Yang said in a JTCSE summary of the meeting, "I think EtE 2011 was even more successful than last year due in part to the return of stellar faculty from the 2010 program and additions to that faculty. Attendees arrived with a high level of enthusiasm, interest, and energy, most likely driven by the information they receive about the program they were about to attend but as well as feedback they received from last year’s attendees. This year’s attendees definitely left with an eagerness to encourage other colleagues to attend the course in the future."

According to the JCTSE, connections will be maintained with those who attended both the 2010 and 2011 EtE programs "to help guide them as they make inroads into improving cardiothoracic surgery education. The JCTSE remains committed to building an ‘army of educators’ who will lead the new wave of education for the next generation of CT surgeons."