Surgical education in colorectal surgery.

I trained in general surgery at a premier North American residency program in the late 1970s to early 1980s. Structured teaching consisted of one weekly hour of Surgical Grand Rounds and GI Rounds, and one monthly one-hour morbidity and mortality conference. The learned clinical opinion of senior surgeons was evidence enough of best surgical practice. Surgical simulation was tying knots at the bottom of a Campbell soup can. Learning technical skills, whether starting an intravenous line or doing a Whipple procedure was based on the time-honored “see one, do one, teach one” surgical curriculum. I took in-house calls every other night through my junior years (“The only downside of being 1:2 is that you miss half of the action”), and every night from home (whenever I actually made it home) as a senior and chief resident. When I finished training, I became board certified for life in general surgery.