Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Programme

The Cardiothoracic Surgery (CTS) Residency Programme aims to train and produce high quality and skilled cardiothoracic surgeons by adopting a holistic residency training curriculum.

Our mission is to provide dedicated education and training to our residents in all areas pertaining to Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) - knowledge, clinical, surgical skills and professional attitudes. It is our hope that residents who graduate from our programme will be able to practice cardiothoracic surgery independently in either an academic institution or in private clinical practice.

We are an academic medical centre (AMC) that carries a strong research heritage in our university department, with opportunities in Basic Science, Clinical and Translational Research.

Residents may opt to pursue laboratory or clinical research culminating in a graduate degree in a related or ancillary field (e.g. MPH, MCI, MSc, or PhD) either before embarking on or after completing the clinical training in CTS.

We provide 'assistance from the AMC' in preparation for grant applications.

Simulation programmes are included in the curriculum so that residents are able to acquire sufficient operative skills before performing the actual procedures on real patients. Simulation centres are available for our trainees to experience simulation training.

Our close proximity to top research facilities both within (e.g. Centre for Life Sciences and Biomechanical Engineering) and beyond the National University of Singapore (e.g. Biopolis and Fusionopolis) puts us in an optimal position to collaborate with them.

In addition to rotating through the conventional CTS sub-specialties, this integrated programme will also include rotations in minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting and valve surgery, and transcatheter valve surgery (e.g. TAVI). It will equip our residents, who are seeking careers as cardiovascular specialists, with the relevant knowledge and skills to use the new tools. This integrated training programme can be completed in a shorter timeframe than the current training paradigm, which requires completion of the traditional CTS training, followed by a clinical fellowship in these sub-specialty areas that will last for a year or two. It is our belief that curriculums should be focused on imparting knowledge and skills relevant to what the residents will be doing for their careers. This, in turn, will produce trained surgeons.

We provide an integrated training site that will expose our residents to all the essential CTS sub-specialties and diverse case loads, including adult cardiac, congenital cardiac, general thoracic, and minimally-invasive surgery.

The entire residency programme is 6 years which consists of the following:

• 2-year SIG Programme
• 4-year Cardiothoracic Surgery (CTS) Residency Programme
  • Fulfills the minimum number of cases and procedures in the Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular clinical and/or operative experience

During the SIG years, residents are encouraged to spend at least 6 weeks during the core training period to accrue experience in one or more of the following complementary fields:

• Cardiology
• Respiratory medicine
• Vascular surgery

The Cardiothoracic Surgery (CTS) Residency Programme is a 4-year advanced specialty programme that will cover the following areas:

• Adult cardiac surgery
• Paediatric cardiac surgery
• Adult thoracic surgery
• Cardiothoracic intensive care

A 6-month elective posting to Singapore General Hospital to gain transplant and left ventricular assist device experience is mandatory within our programme.

The 6-year residency programme consists of the following:

• 2-year SIG Programme
• Core Programme
  • Fulfills the minimum number of cases and procedures in the Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular clinical and/or operative experience listed in section D
• Other training requirements

Residents are encouraged to spend at least 3 months during the core training period to accrue experience in one or more of the following fields:

• Cardiac Catheterisation
• Echocardiography
• Thoracic Aortic Surgery
• Bronchoscopy
• Electrophysiology