The next frontier of acute care general surgery: fellowship training.

Acute care surgery (ACS) is an area of surgical specialization within general surgery and a model for clinical care delivery that has proliferated over the last 2 decades. Models of ACS in Canada exist in both academic and community settings and are used to manage patients in need of emergency general surgery (EGS) care, with or without the provision of trauma care. The implementation of the ACS model has changed the landscape of patient care, surgical education and the workforce, providing an option for some general surgeons to exclude EGS care from their regular practice. The rise of ACS as a concentration of surgical skill and content expertise has resulted in the establishment of dedicated ACS fellowship training programs. This is a landmark in the evolution of general surgery, as well as a stepping stone on the path to improving patient care, surgical education and scholarly endeavour in this field.

Competing Interests: Competing interests: Paul Engels is a member of the Trauma General Surgery Area of Focused Competency Subcommittee of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and of the board of directors of the Trauma Association of Canada. Morad Hameed is a founder of T6 Health Systems. Najma Ahmed is a board member of Canadian Doctors for Protection against Guns. Kelly Vogt is a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons and the Trauma Association of Canada. Chad Ball is a co–editor-in-chief of CJS; and Paul Engels, Neil Parry and Kelly Vogt are on its editorial board. They were not involved in the editorial decision-making process for this article. No other competing interests were declared.

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