Impact of a six-year integrated thoracic surgery training program at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Background: Thoracic residency program enrollment continues to decline. While job market and decreasing reimbursements are often cited as the main reasons, length of and format of training may also be significant.

Methods: The Medical College of Wisconsin established an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved 6-year integrated thoracic training program. The number and characteristics of applicants to the 6-year program were then compared with previous applicants applying to the traditional 2-year program.

Results: Applicants to the 6-year integrated program scored higher on the United States Medical Licensing Examination part 1 and part 2 than previous applicants to the traditional 2-year program. The 6-year applicants also were more published and a greater percentage of them held other advanced degrees.

Conclusions: Institution of a 6-year integrated thoracic surgery training program at the Medical College of Wisconsin led to a significant increase in number of applications. Additionally, the 6-year applicants appeared to be more academically accomplished than previous applicants to the traditional 2-year program. While early in the experience, it appears that interest in thoracic surgery is high among medical students and institution of a 6-year program has the potential to once again attract the "best and the brightest" to this specialty.