The Value of an Annual Educational Retreat in the Orthopedic Residency Training Program

Over the past decade, there have been major changes implemented at both surgical and nonsurgical residency training programs across the country. Much attention has been placed on the implementation and enforcement of the 80-hour workweek for residents, yet this is only 1 of many changes with which programs have been faced. One could argue that the more important changes have occurred in the manner in which residents are, and should, be trained. In a period that has seen an exponential rise in overall body of medical knowledge as well as the number of publications, surgical procedures, and available surgical products from industry, training residents today demands constant attention to the structured curriculum in place to train them. Across surgical specialties, there is a general concern of how to do more, or even the same, with less. Meaning, how can residency programs be expected to prepare future surgeons when there are limits in place that regulate how much time residents can spend not only in the hospital but also at residency sanctioned events, such as educational conferences, training laboratories, and journal clubs. These issues are not unique to any 1 program or surgical discipline and have been in the crosshairs of program directors and chairpersons for many years now. To help address these issues, and incorporate the perspective of the residents as well, our institution has implemented an annual educational retreat to address and reevaluate our curriculum and residency program and provide a critical selfevaluation of the way in which we train residents. An annual review of educational effectiveness is required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) but there is little language on what exactly is expected of this review. Other nonsurgical training programs have pubished data with regard to the format and structure of the etreat used at their institution, but these data may not be pplicable to surgical specialties as well.