Ranking United States University-Based General Surgery Programs on the Academic Achievement of Surgery Department Faculty

Abstract

Objective: Rankings of residency programs are highly influential and utilized by residency applicants. Existing ranking resources often use opaque criteria that may include bias or do not accurately represent the academic achievement of current faculty. This study aims to create an updated general surgery residency ranking list based on the academic achievements of their respective surgery department faculty members.

Design: One hundred and six general surgery residency programs were selected from the American Medical Association Residency & Fellowship Programs Database. The names of faculty members affiliated with the departments of surgery were manually obtained. Lifetime and five-year h-indexes, a sum of grant awards from the National Institute of Health and Veterans Affairs, and a tally of journal editorial board positions were collected for the faculty. Metrics were compared among surgical departments, and the corresponding residency programs were ranked accordingly.

Setting: The study evaluated university-based general surgery residency programs in the United States from 2017 to 2019 via assessing their respective institutions' departments of surgery.

Participants: A total of 7568 faculty members were evaluated. Faculty were required to be full-time, clinical surgeons to meet inclusion criteria.

Results: Based on a composite of all measured criteria, the top overall surgery department was at the University of Michigan. Massachusetts General Hospital had the highest lifetime and five-year h-indexes. Brigham and Women's Hospital had the most National Institute of Health funding, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center had the most Veterans Affairs funding. Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes Jewish Hospital had the most editorial board positions in their department.

Conclusions: The academic success of departments of surgery was evaluated to develop a ranking list of general surgery residency programs. Through utilizing standardized methods and several measures of academic achievement, this comprehensive general surgery residency classification system will allow residency applicants to make more informed decisions.

Keywords: Interpersonal and Communication Skills; Medical Knowledge; Practice-Based Learning and Improvement; Professionalism; Systems-Based Practice; department; faculty; h-index; ranking; residency; surgery.