How international electives could save general surgery

[...]the diversity of cases and lack of ancillary testing, such as radiographs and sophisticated laboratory work, enhance medical knowledge and reinforce physical examination skills that are becoming an artifact of the past in this age of high-technology medicine. [...]programs would provide fundraising opportunities from donors who are increasingly interested in international humanitarian efforts given the current geopolitical environment. Increasing the number of international electives in general surgery residencies may help to attract the best and brightest medical students into this field, which has tended to attract fewer and fewer applicants throughout the world in recent years.9,10 This was recently highlighted by Kamul Itani's presidential address at the Annual Meeting of the Association of VA Surgeons.11 Although he focused on the role of international medical graduates in providing general surgical care in the United States, the widespread adoption of international electives in American general surgical residency programs may be an interesting method to battle the dwindling numbers of general surgeons in the “X” and “Y” generations.11,12 With the ever-increasing specialization of medicine and surgery in particular, the possibility of a specialty in rural surgery has been entertained.13,14 Ultimately, international electives may be particularly suited to this potential subspecialty of general surgery. Acknowledgments The authors thank Oliver Yun, the medical editor of the New York Office of Doctors Without Borders, for editing the manuscript. 1 A.A. Gumbs, M.A. Gumbs, J Surg Educ, Vol. 64, 2007, 311-314 2 A.C. Powell, C. Mueller, P. Kingham, International experience, electives, and volunteerism in surgical training: a...