Acute Care Surgery Committee

The Acute Care Surgery Committee’s mission is to advance the specialty of Acute Care Surgery and to oversee the subspecialty fellowship.  The committee remains extremely active with ongoing projects involving fellowship subspecialty tracks, development of an ACS fellowship bootcamp, redesigning the educational curriculum, a focus on wellness and family policies for the fellowship and ongoing creation and promulgation of educational content.  The committee is currently chaired by Stephanie Savage, with Marc DeMoya and Niels Martin serving as Vice Chairs.  Bridget Lindbloom is the administrative manager for the ACS Committee.

One of the ongoing focuses of the AAST and the ACS committee in particular is the scope and breadth of Acute Care Surgery.  The AAST continues to work on the development of the specialty and its future in surgery.  Research initiatives, branding, educational programs and methods to develop best practices are all ongoing areas of focus.

The ACS Committee continues to collaborate with multiple other committees and societies in producing educational content for our members.  Lunch- and pre- sessions at the annual meeting have focused on laparoscopic CBD exploration, defining an acute care surgeon FTE, and a guide to pursuing the American College of Surgeons Emergency General Surgery verification. 

The ACS Committee has overseen the expansion of the ACS Fellowship to 32 institutions (and growing), and has spearheaded the development of a family leave policy for participating fellows.  Additional work has focused on establishing an annual fellow boot camp to increase networking opportunities and prime new fellows for a successful training experience.  The ACS Committee has also overseen the update of the fellowship examination question bank and is engaged in a vast overhaul of the education modules, to include updated materiel and interactive components.

The ACS Committee is working with partners in the American Pediatric Surgery Association and the American Burn Association to operationalize optional sub-tracks within the ACS Fellowship.  Graduates attending institutions with verified pediatric or burn sub-tracks will have the opportunity to gain extra experiences in those corresponding areas.  Additional sub-tracks in other subspecialty areas are in active development.

Moving into the future, the ACS Committee will continue to advance the Acute Care Surgery brand and build upon the successes of the ACS fellowship.  The Committee is grateful for the enthusiasm, hard work and creativity of its members, as well as to Bridget Lindbloom for her tireless support.