SAGES Celebrates the FLS Program’s 10th Anniversary
FLS Pioneered Validated Skill-Based Surgical Education
- Ten years ago, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) launched the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery™ (FLS) in response to the need for formal education in the underlying principles and basic skills of laparoscopic surgery.
- View full article “Celebrating a Decade of Innovation in Surgical Education.”
- “FLS’ impact on general surgery has been tremendous,” according to SAGES Past President Dr. Gerald Fried. “First of all, it did achieve its goal, and that was to standardize both a knowledge set and skills set that people had to acquire. But, more importantly, FLS introduced the verification of surgical training that has become a new model for other traditional programs.”
- Over 9,700 surgical residents, fellows, and practicing physicians have successfully completed the FLS program.
- The American College of Surgeons began co-sponsoring FLS in 2005 and since then more than 275 FLS on-site testing events have occurred at more than 150 different locations in the U.S. and Canada. More than 30 countries have purchased the FLS online didactics and the FLS Training System, and surgeons from more than 20 countries have taken the FLS exam.
- In 2008, the ABS mandated that all general surgery residents seeking board certification pass the FLS exam to be eligible for the general surgery qualifying exam.
A major focus of the FLS program now is on the international level, with groups in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa becoming FLS trained and certified and expressing interest in making the program more widely available to their surgical constituencies.