Teaching professional development to orthopaedic residents

Background: The traditional focus of residency training programs has been on the development of clinical and surgical skills. The expectation has been that nonclinical skills, including professional development, will be learned in an informal manner rather than through formal teaching. Methods: After recognizing the absence of formal teaching on professional development in the residency curriculum, we developed a symposium to specifically address this omission. Topics included applying for fellowships, military promotions, overseas assignments, moonlighting, board certification, time management, lifelong orthopaedic learning, and finding a job after the military. Residents were surveyed before and after the symposium to determine the overall usefulness and value of the individual topics. Results: All participating residents reported that they would recommend the symposium to other residents. The course received a mean overall rating of 4.64 (range, 4–5) on a on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 points (excellent). High ratings were received for course usefulness, content, and relevance to future practice. Conclusions: A formal professional development program to address topics that are relevant to practice and learning should be integrated into an orthopaedic surgery residency curriculum.