ACS President E. Christopher Ellison, MD, FACS, MAMSE, visited colleagues in Florida last month during the annual Florida Chapter meeting. He provided the following report about his experience:
At the invitation of Chapter President Susan J. Hoover, MD, FACS, I visited the Florida ACS Chapter June 2-4, 2023. The program was put together by President-Elect Mark A. Dobbertien DO, FACS, and the Council; it was fabulous.
There are 3,350 ACS members in the Florida Chapter area, with 1,590 identifying as general surgeons and the remainder in other surgical disciplines. Females make up 44% of Associate Fellows, 38% of resident members, and 52% of medical students.
The first session began with an inspirational address, “The Diversity Imperative,“ by ACS President-Elect Henri R. Ford, MD, MHA, FACS, MAMSE. He stated that advancing a competent and diverse workforce is essential to eliminating healthcare disparities. Although we have made progress, minorities remain woefully underrepresented in medicine. He pointed out that the greatest predictor of seeking higher education including medicine is reading comprehension in the third grade. Hence, we must invest in early education. He also encouraged efforts to promote medicine as an appealing career to grade school students. When I was in grade school, it was considered “cool to be a doctor,” with role models like TV characters Marcus Welby, Dr. Kildare, and Ben Casey. Who are the contemporary physician role models?
There followed a session on video-based assessment by Jay Redan, MD, FACS. This session focused on the real prospect of video-based assessment of surgical technical competence. A simulation-based skills session followed in which medical students and residents participated – a very talented group of participants. The two highest-scoring residents of this competition will have their names submitted to the ACS for possible participation in the Clinical Congress “So, You Think You Can Operate?” surgical skills competition.
The day ended with a panel discussion about the rapidly evolving world of robotic surgery and its implications on surgical care across various disciplines. The Florida Chapter used a unique program design of an informal conversation with panelists sitting in comfortable chairs. In the first, session, experts including Mark K. Soliman, MD, FACS, Chris DuCoin, MD, FACS, Sharona B. Ross, MD, FACS, and Luis Javier Herrera, MD, came together to discuss the advancements, challenges, and ethical considerations surrounding the use of robotic surgery in their respective fields.
Robotic surgery has penetrated surgical practice to varying degrees, depending on the local community. Tampa, Florida, is a thriving hub of robotic surgery. In fact, one panelist opined, “If you want to get a job in Tampa in hepatobiliary, colorectal, thoracic, and general/hernia surgery, you need to be an accomplished robotic surgeon.”
Saturday morning started with a rousing session of surgical jeopardy. These are increasingly popular and easy for the chapter to put on. The residents love the competition and so do the faculty. Contact Luke Moreau (lmoreau@facs.org) in Member Services for more information.
The morning panel conversation was on global surgery, chaired by Girma Tefera MD, FACS, Director of Operation Giving Back (OGB) (see Figure 1). Panelists discussed how members can get involved, the important work they are doing, and the main goal of OGB—to establish sustainable surgical care in sub-Saharan Africa.
