Best CT Surgery Fellowships with the best hands-on experience

[DJJohnson619]

Hi, I am a general surgery resident at an academic center and I am interested in applying to CT fellowship with cardiac track focus. At my institution, we only have an 16 program and we never rotate on cardiac. Wondering if any of the fellows/residents out there who can give me insight on program with best hands-on experience for residents/fellows, thoughts on fellowship programs that has super fellows and how that impacts a fellow/resident experience? And 2 versus 3 year fellowships? Thanks

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[ThoracicGuy]

It's hard for anyone to really compare different programs because someone generally only trains at one and MIGHT see some insight of the program if you did General Surgery in a place with a program as well.

If you are planning on just general cardiac surgery and not doing any subspecialization/super fellowships, I've generally heard that a 3 year program is good for preparing you to do those surgeries out in practice, though certainly you can do it from a 2 year program as well. If you are wanting to do a super fellowship in VAD/transplant, or aortic work, or whatever, then probably a 2 year program might be enough plus your extra superfellowship year.

 

[DJJohnson619]

Thanks for your response. I was wondering if folks can say based on the reputation/experience which programs are know to let the fellow be very hands on versus those who are hands off?

 

[LucidSplash]

Thanks for your response. I was wondering if folks can say based on the reputation/experience which programs are know to let the fellow be very hands on versus those who are hands off?

I don’t think anyone is going to be able to answer that. What @ThoracicGuy tried to tell you above is that people only really know their own program or one where they have worked after training. And the kind of “reputation rumors” you are asking for aren’t usually the kind of thing discussed. Would you spread it around if your program didn’t give you a good hands on experience? If the trainees themselves don’t discuss it, how would such reputations be developed?