• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

SAGES

Reimagining surgical care for a healthier world

  • Home
    • Search
    • SAGES Home
    • SAGES Foundation Home
  • About
    • Awards
    • Who Is SAGES?
    • Leadership
    • Our Mission
    • Advocacy
    • Committees
      • SAGES Board of Governors
      • Officers and Representatives of the Society
      • Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs
      • Committee Rosters
      • SAGES Past Presidents
  • Meetings
    • SAGES NBT Innovation Weekend
    • SAGES Annual Meeting
      • 2026 Scientific Session Call for Abstracts
      • 2026 Emerging Technology Call for Abstracts
    • CME Claim Form
    • SAGES Past, Present, Future, and Related Meeting Information
    • SAGES Related Meetings & Events Calendar
  • Join SAGES!
    • Membership Application
    • Membership Benefits
    • Membership Types
      • Requirements and Applications for Active Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for Affiliate Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for Associate Active Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for Candidate Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for International Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements for Medical Student Membership
    • Member Spotlight
    • Give the Gift of SAGES Membership
  • Patients
    • Join the SAGES Patient Partner Network (PPN)
    • Patient Information Brochures
    • Healthy Sooner – Patient Information for Minimally Invasive Surgery
    • Choosing Wisely – An Initiative of the ABIM Foundation
    • All in the Recovery: Colorectal Cancer Alliance
    • Find A SAGES Surgeon
  • Publications
    • Sustainability in Surgical Practice
    • SAGES Stories Podcast
    • SAGES Clinical / Practice / Training Guidelines, Statements, and Standards of Practice
    • Patient Information Brochures
    • Patient Information From SAGES
    • TAVAC – Technology and Value Assessments
    • Surgical Endoscopy and Other Journal Information
    • SAGES Manuals
    • MesSAGES – The SAGES Newsletter
    • COVID-19 Archive
    • Troubleshooting Guides
  • Education
    • Wellness Resources – You Are Not Alone
    • Avoid Opiates After Surgery
    • SAGES Subscription Catalog
    • SAGES TV: Home of SAGES Surgical Videos
    • The SAGES Safe Cholecystectomy Program
    • Masters Program
    • Resident and Fellow Opportunities
      • SAGES Free Resident Webinar Series
      • Fluorescence-Guided Surgery Course for Fellows
      • Fellows’ Career Development Course
      • SAGES Robotics Residents and Fellows Courses
      • MIS Fellows Course
    • SAGES S.M.A.R.T. Enhanced Recovery Program
    • SAGES @ Cine-Med Products
      • SAGES Top 21 Minimally Invasive Procedures Every Practicing Surgeon Should Know
      • SAGES Pearls Step-by-Step
      • SAGES Flexible Endoscopy 101
    • SAGES OR SAFETY Video Activity
  • Opportunities
    • Fellowship Recognition Opportunities
    • SAGES Advanced Flexible Endoscopy Area of Concentrated Training (ACT) SEAL
    • Multi-Society Foregut Fellowship Certification
    • Research Opportunities
    • FLS
    • FES
    • FUSE
    • Jobs Board
    • SAGES Go Global: Global Affairs and Humanitarian Efforts
  • Search
    • Search the SAGES Site
    • Guidelines Search
    • Video Search
    • Search Images
    • Search Abstracts
  • OWLS/FLS
  • Login

Laparoscopic Fellowship Does Not Affect General Surgery Resident Experience

Introduction: With the advent of clinical fellowships in general surgery, there has been a continual debate over the effect on general surgical resident training. Will the fellowship interfere with chief resident experience or case volume? We hypothesize that the presence of an advanced laparoscopic fellow in our tertiary care hospital and residency has had no deleterious effect on chief resident laparoscopic case volume.

Methods: We reviewed the operative case logs of our graduating residents, fellows from 2002 to 2009. We focused on the laparoscopic basic and complex cases and compared it between those 2 groups and compared our residents’ case numbers to the national average published by the ACGME and minimum case number defined by the American Board of Surgery (ABS).

Results: Our Residents graduating from 2002-2009 (4-5 Chief residents per year) performed an average of 902.9 +/- 56.4 laparoscopic cases per graduating chief class with each chief averaging 205.4 +/- 12.7. The average laparoscopic basic cases per graduating chief year were 505.1 +/- 28.2 with each chief averaging 114.6 +/- 5.5. The average laparoscopic complex cases per graduating chief year were 397.7 +/- 37.6 with each chief averaging 90.8 +/- 9.1. With regards our fellows over the same period of time, they performed an average of 352 +/- 26 cases per year. When comparing our residents’ total average laparoscopic cases to the national data, our residents did perform more cases overall (199.8 +/- 13.6 vs. 171.45 +/- 7).

Year Resident Average Laparoscopic Basic (ABS Minimum) Resident Average Laparoscopic Complex (ABS Minimum) Resident Average Total Laparoscopic Cases National Resident Average Laparoscopic Cases Fellows Average Laparoscopic Cases
2002-2003 132.5 (34) 75.8 (0) 208.3 153.4 300
2003-2004 118 (34) 115.8 (0) 233.8 158.7 218.5
2004-2005 105 (34) 83.3 (0) 188.3 160.3 205.5
2005-2006 116.8 (34) 104.0 (0) 220.8 173.3 197
2006-2007 87.6 (34) 51.8 (0) 139.4 186.1 188
2007-2008 123.6 (60) 85.0 (25) 208.6 196.9 263
2008-2009 118.5 (60) 120.3 (25) 238.8 N/A 283

Conclusions: In our experience a laparoscopic fellow has not had an adverse impact on the complex or basic laparoscopic case experience of surgical residents. In a busy academic practice laparoscopic fellowships and general surgical residency can coexist.


Session: Poster

Program Number: P212

View Poster

177

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon

Related



  • Foundation
  • SAGES.TV
  • MyCME
  • Educational Activities

Copyright © 2025 Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons