Thoracic Surgical Resident Education: A Costly Endeavor

Program directors from 6 distinctly different training centers assessed educational costs for CT resident training.  Before formal accounting information was explored, the PDs estimated the annual cost per resident to be $250,000.  The actual costs per year per resident ranged from $330,000 to $667,000, with a mean of $483,000.  Faculty teaching costs made up more than half of the total costs, whereas simulation costs comprised 0 to $80,000.  The contributions of the residents to program savings averaged $37,000.