The American College of Surgeons (ACS) was established largely to provide surgeons with the ongoing educational programming needed to provide patients with safe, high-quality care. These efforts originated with presentation of the annual Clinical Congress and publication of Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics, now known as the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Since then, the ACS has continually expanded the range and scope of learning opportunities available to its Fellows.
In 1971, the ACS launched the Surgical Education and Self-Assessment Program® (SESAP®) under the auspices of the Committee on Continuing Education and in cooperation with the National Board of Medical Examiners. This month’s Centennial reprint describes the rationale for developing SESAP and explains how surgeons can use it to evaluate their own knowledge or as an educational tool.
The authors note that SESAP was developed in response to growing public demands for assurances that patients have access to quality care and the possibility of new requirements for re-licensure and recertification—challenges that the profession and the ACS have continued to address these last 40-plus years. Each edition of SESAP has responded to surgeons’ evolving needs. Today, many surgeons and surgical residents use to prepare for board examinations and to help fulfill Maintenance of Certification Part 2 requirements. At press time, the 15th edition of this important educational program was under development and scheduled for release at the 2013 Clinical Congress.
Download “Surgical Education and Self-Assessment Program” in the June 1971 ACS Bulletin, Volume 56, No. 6.
