17 Years of Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery (FMIGS): Where are Graduates Now?

Abstract

Study Objective FMIGS graduates are imperative for the training of modern endoscopic surgery techniques to the next generation of gynecologic surgeons. The recent implementation of Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) for board certification and the recent approval of MIGS Focused Practice Designation by the American Board of Medical Specialties only further emphasizes the importance of FMIGS graduates to training institutions, yet the current distribution of FMIG graduates and their interactions with education is not well documented. Design An Internet based name search of 391 AAGL FMIG graduates from 2002-2018 conducted in April of 2019. Each physician's website was investigated for current practice type, setting, location, and interactions with residents and/or fellows and then analyzed. Setting Current, April 2019, Internet-based name search for practice website. Patients or Participants 391 AAGL FMIGS Graduates. Interventions N/A Measurements and Main Results Of the 391 AAGL FMIG graduates, 381 were searchable on the Internet. The breakdown were as follows- Gender: Male 30.5%, Female 69.5%, Practice Type: Private 53.3%, Academic 46.7%, Practice Setting: Urban 59.3%, Suburban 35.4%, Rural 5.2%, Location: NE 31.5%, SW 25.2%, SE 17.1%, MW 16.5%, NW 3.7%, and Out of States 6.0%. More than half of all FMIGS graduates were involved in residency or fellowship education. There has been a positive trend of FMIGS graduates practicing in both OB/GYN residency and fellowship programs as the fellowship has matured with over 58% of 2015-18 graduates involved with resident education and over 34% involved with fellowship education Conclusion The increasing trend of FMIGS graduates seeking job opportunities to educate residents and fellows supports the fellowships mission to train the next generation of minimally invasive gynecologic surgeons. The distribution and demographics of FMIGS graduates is not evenly distributed and this data may be utilized by the AAGL and prospective residents/fellows for decisions regarding future training and clinical practice location.