The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery offers a three year training program in cardiothoracic surgery following completion of a surgical residency. The first year as a junior cardiac surgery fellow is evenly divided between the Red and Blue cardiac surgery services. During the second year, six months is dedicated to the general thoracic surgery service and six months is spent as an elective done locally in thoracic, cardiac or endovascular surgery. The third year of the residency is spent as a chief resident in cardiac surgery and is again divided between the Red and Blue services. The thoracic and second year fellow during the elective rotation are included with the two junior cardiac fellows in an in-house call rotation which averages one night in four. These four residents are responsible for all pre- and postoperative care of patients on their night on call. The chief residents alternate call from home for emergency cases, including transplants. The operative experience for the first year averages about 125-175 major cardiovascular cases. The six month thoracic surgery operative experience during the second year averages about 140-190 major general thoracic cases. The chief year operative experience is quite extensive and averages about 300-400 major cardiovascular cases. Overall, each resident performs approximately 600-700 major cardiovascular and thoracic operations during the three year training period. The Johns Hopkins Hospital has a long history of training academic surgeons, both in general and cardiothoracic surgery. Hopkins cardiac surgery has been directed by leaders in the field, including Alfred Blalock, Vincent Gott, Bruce Reitz, and now William Baumgartner. The Division strives to maintain this heritage by fostering both clinical expertise and intellectual development, the essence of an academic surgeon. To accomplish this goal, the training program in cardiothoracic surgery provides a wealth of clinical and operative experience, a diverse house staff and faculty interested in teaching, and a wide variety of clinical and basic research experiences. |
