The generalization I propose is that we need a more sensible approach than the big center vs. small center fight we have now. The Kansas City Royals shouldn’t ever win a World Series. They are a small-market team with a constrained budget, but they formed a mass of generalists and some spectacularly good specialists. That’s how they won in 2015 against the common wisdom of baseball and statistics.
I ask all to support the efforts of the American College of Surgeons, American Board of Surgery, Residency Review Committee, the Association of Program Directors in Surgery, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education, and the various subspecialty societies in supporting the growing effort to redesign general surgery education and establish its place in this century for the good of all those patients far and wide who cannot, will not, and should not be forced into an uncoordinated system of surgical care.
Dr. Hughes is an ACS Fellow with the department of general surgery, McPherson Hospital, McPherson, Kan., and is the Editor in Chief of ACS Communities. He is also Associate Editor for ACS Surgery News.