To help commemorate the American College of Surgeons’ (ACS) Centennial, the Bulletin is reprinting articles on topics that represent how the ACS has responded to ongoing challenges in the profession. This month’s reprint is excerpted from “Graduate training for general surgery and the surgical specialties,” first published in the January 1939 Bulletin.
This excerpt includes the following:
- Introductory comments
- Criteria for hospitals that offer graduate surgical training, for the selection of residents, and for inspection of graduate training centers
- A manual of graduate training for surgery, which elaborates on the proposed criteria
- The Fundamental Principle—Graduate Training for General Surgery and the Surgical Specialties
- An overview of U.S. and Canadian hospitals approved for graduate surgical training as of January 1, 1939
- A map indicating the location of approved U.S. training centers*
The College issued these standards after completing a thorough study of graduate training and on the heels of updating the requirements for Fellowship in 1936 to mandate that applicants for membership in the organization present evidence of having completed three years of hospital service. As the introductory remarks indicate, “The raising of the standard for fellowship has obligated the College to make certain that no qualified [individual] who aspires to future fellowship shall lack the opportunity to obtain the graduate training required.”
This reprint is emblematic of the College’s enduring commitment to ensuring that surgical patients receive care from properly trained and appropriately credentialed surgeons working in an optimal environment.
Download the January 1939 ACS Bulletin, Volume 24 No. 1
*Due to space constraints, the Bulletin is not reprinting the entire list of approved training centers but will provide that information upon request.
