Surgical fellowship training in Canada: What is its current status and is improvement required?

This paper examines current issues concerning surgical fellowship training in Canada. Other than information from a few studies of fellowship training in North America, there are scant data on this subject in the literature. Little is known about the demographic characteristics of those who pursue fellowship training in Canada, what the experiences and expectations are of fellows and their supervisors with respect to the strengths and weaknesses of this level of training, or how this level of education fits in with Canadian undergraduate and postgraduate medical training. We summarize current knowledge about fellowship training in Canada as it pertains to demographic characteristics, finances, work hours, residency training, preparation for clinical and research work and satisfaction with training. Most information on surgical fellowship training comes from the United States. As such, we used information from American studies to supplement the Canadian data. Because a surgical fellowship experience in Canada may be different from that in the United States, we propose that Canadian surgical fellows and their supervisors should be surveyed to gain an understanding of such information. This knowledge could be used to improve surgical fellowship training in Canada. Cet article analyse les enjeux d'actualite entourant la formation au niveau du fellowship en chirurgie au Canada. Outre l'information tiree de quelques etudes sur ce type de formation en Amerique du Nord, les donnees sont rares a ce sujet dans les publications. On connait peu de choses des caracteristiques demographiques des personnes qui suivent une formation au niveau du fellowship au Canada, des experiences des boursiers et de leurs superviseurs, de leurs attentes au sujet des forces et des faiblesses de ce niveau de formation, ou de l'integration de ce niveau de formation dans l'education medicale predoctorale et postdoctorale au Canada. Nous resumons le savoir actuel sur la formation au niveau du fellowship au Canada sur les plans suivants : caracteristiques demographiques, questions financieres, heures de travail, formation en residence, preparation au travail clinique et a la recherche et satisfaction a l'egard de la formation. La majeure partie de l'information au sujet de la formation au niveau du fellowship en chirurgie provient des Etats-Unis. Nous avons donc utilise de l'information tiree d'etudes americaines pour completer les donnees canadiennes. Comme une experience de formation au niveau du fellowship en chirurgie vecue au Canada peut etre tres differente d'une experience vecue aux Etats-Unis, nous proposons de sonder les boursiers canadiens en chirurgie et leurs superviseurs afin de comprendre cette information. Ces connaissances pourraient servir a ameliorer la formation au niveau du fellowship en chirurgie au Canada.
A surgical fellowship is often a 1- or 2-year clinical experience performed after residency (postgraduate) training. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada identifies a resident as a [...]