Are we meeting ACGME core competencies? A systematic review of literature on international surgical rotations.

BACKGROUND: In response to the growing interest in global surgery among trainees, international surgical rotation (ISR) was approved as a formal elective of resident curriculum. To define ISR's role, we aim to identify the six core competencies of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in individual institution's experience.

DATA SOURCES: This is a systematic literature review studying general surgery resident experience in ISR as it pertains to the ACGME core competencies. Articles were searched using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Each abstract and article was reviewed, selected, and tabulated.

CONCLUSION: Fourteen articles were selected for the review after inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied. We found that ISR provided a valuable educational experience for US surgical residents by meeting the ACGME core competencies in a different environment. ISR is an important addition to the general surgery curriculum. Future direction should focus on bidirectional ISR and educational consortium development.