General surgical residency training can range from five to seven years depending on whether the resident seeks to perform research. The minimum number of years required for general surgery training is five years. An intern is the specific term for a resident in the first postgraduate year and is also referred to as a PGY-1. Chief residents are often PGY-5s (or can be PGY-6s or7s). Residents have their medical degrees so can order most testing without an attending’s cosignature on the order. Residency is a time of skill acquisition and advancement of knowledge in the chosen specialty. Residents spend time with attending surgeons in a variety of surgical disciplines in a kind of apprenticeship model. Graduated responsibility and increased independent clinical activity occur over time as the resident advances in his/her training. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) reviews residency programs every three-to-five years to ensure that training meets requirements to produce safe surgeons.
Residents should confirm care plans with a supervising attending as the attending is ultimately responsible for the care and treatment of the patient. Residents do need to document with whom they discussed the care of the patient if the attending is not directly seeing the patient with them. Part of good medical care is documenting the care rendered to the patient, and residents learn documentation skills from their attendings as well as senior residents.