Characteristics and Attitudes of Aspiring Cardiothoracic Surgeons: A Survey Study

In this article, Han et al examined the characteristics of aspiring cardiothoracic surgeons recruited from a pool of students interested in matriculating from a North American training program. Importantly, they demonstrate that just over half belonged to an institution with a cardiothoracic surgery training program and that the majority of students were drawn to cardiothoraicc surgery for its high intensity operative environment. However, students were dissuaded from pursuing cardiothoracic surgery due to its potential for lack of work-life balance and challenging training / work environment, highlighting areas for improvement in our specialty's efforts to recruit the best and brightest into the field.