Operative Experience Credit
Full credit will be allowed for supervised operative experience in a well-organized teaching setting only when the following criteria are met:
- The resident participated in the diagnosis, preoperative planning, surgical indications, and selection of the appropriate operation;
- The resident performed, under appropriate supervision in a well-organized teaching setting approved by the RRC-TS, those technical manipulations that constituted the essential parts of the surgical procedure itself;
- The resident was substantially involved in postoperative care.
Supervision and active participation by the congenital heart surgery faculty are required in preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care.
Although the Board also acknowledges that first-assisting at operations is an important part of resident experience, particularly in complex or relatively uncommon cases, index and major cases for credit toward the ABTS application for certification require that the resident be the primary surgeon.
For the full details of the Congenital Initial Certification process, refer to the Congenital Booklet of Information on the ABTS homepage at www.abts.org.