Session Design Submission Review

Yes

• Vice Chairs of Education (VCE)

Summary Description: Departments of Surgery face unprecedented financial pressure in the current climate while still being asked to deliver excellence in education as well as patient care and research. How do we keep faculty engaged, support surgical training, and protect well-being when “margin is the mission”? This panel will share practical, creative strategies for balancing finances, incentivization, and mission in the current times.

Session Topics:

• Is Margin the Main Mission? The Financial Landscape of Academic Surgery 

Description: Candid overview of the financial pressures currently facing surgical departments: declining reimbursements, increasing administrative costs and faculty time pressures, and competition for limited institutional resources. The speaker will outline how “margin is the mission” (versus “no margin, no mission”) has become a necessary mantra, highlighting both threats and opportunities for surgical training programs.

• Beyond the Paycheck: Creative Faculty Engagement, Especially in Lean Times

With limited funds, financial incentives alone can no longer drive faculty engagement, satisfaction, and/or retention. This speaker will explore alternative strategies for engagement—recognition programs, leadership development, flexible scheduling, promotion, and education alignment—that can keep faculty motivated and invested even when compensation is tight.

• Investing in Education Without Going Broke

Description: Residency and fellowship programs are resource-intensive, yet essential. This speaker will focus on innovative approaches to fund and sustain surgical education, including partnerships, philanthropic support, use of technology, and rethinking educational efficiency. The speaker will also address how to balance fiscal discipline with maintaining a rich training environment.

• Wellness, Burnout, and the Price of Penny-Pinching

When budgets are shrinking, faculty and trainees often feel the strain most acutely. This session will examine the downstream effects of austerity—burnout, disengagement, and attrition—and discuss cost-effective ways to support wellness and resilience in surgical departments. The speaker will propose solutions that strengthen both the faculty experience and the educational mission.

Attendees will better understand the financial funds flow and its impact on the missions of an academic surgical department

Attendees will be able to envision alternative, non-monetary strategies for incentivizing faculty.

Attendees will be able to think creatively about funding sources for surgical education endeavors in their own departments.

To allow attendees to cultivate ideas for mitigating burnout and building wellness amidst relentless financial pressure.