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Advancing Surgical Education pp 157–170Cite as

Selection into Surgical Education and Training

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Part of the book series: Innovation and Change in Professional Education ((ICPE,volume 17))

Overview

Recruitment and selection of appropriate medical graduates to join a surgical education and training programme is a complex, expensive and high-stakes process. Although there is general agreement on the goals of selection, debate continues on how this should be undertaken.

A number of selection methods are used which include the curriculum vitae, letters of recommendation and the interview. More recently, the addition of aptitude testing and personality assessment techniques has been proposed in an effort to recruit trainees with the highest aptitude for surgery and to avoid selecting those whose personality may be unsuitable for such a career.

A critical review of the processes, criteria and methods involved in selection has been undertaken. The key to effective selection is the identification of the person specification required through an analysis of the job of a surgeon and to then design selection criteria based on these requirements. Different and complimentary selection methods are used to provide the best measurements of each of these selection criteria in order to score each applicant. There is currently insufficient evidence of the value of aptitude tests and personality assessments for these to be included as a routine part of the selection of surgical trainees or residents.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    John P. Collins

  2. University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    John P. Collins

  3. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

    Eva M. Doherty & Oscar Traynor

Authors
  1. John P. Collins
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  2. Eva M. Doherty
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  3. Oscar Traynor
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John P. Collins .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash Institute for Health and Clinical Education, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia, Faculty of Medicine Dentistry & Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Melbourne Medical School, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Debra Nestel

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Kirsten Dalrymple

  3. Department of Surgery, Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA

    John T. Paige

  4. Department of Surgery, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA, Jefferson Strategic Ventures, Jefferson Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Rajesh Aggarwal

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Collins, J.P., Doherty, E.M., Traynor, O. (2019). Selection into Surgical Education and Training. In: Nestel, D., Dalrymple, K., Paige, J., Aggarwal, R. (eds) Advancing Surgical Education. Innovation and Change in Professional Education, vol 17. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3128-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3128-2_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-3127-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-3128-2

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