Surgical Education in Brazil

Background The surgical residency was implemented in Brazil in 1944. Gradually, several programs were created under the auspices of the National Committee of Medical Residency (Comissao Nacional de Residencia). A candidate for a residency program is submitted to a selection process in various institutions. One of the greatest obstacles to medical education in Brazil is that the number of graduate students is much larger than the number of available vacancies. As a consequence, they end up looking for other alternatives to their professional training, and these cannot offer the same results as a formal residency. Regarding the current residency program in surgery, Brazil has roughly 200 general surgery programs, which offer 1,040 vacancies yearly.