Nonmelanoma skin cancer treatment training varies across different medical specialists

Abstract Background: Physicians from various specialties treat patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC). The isolation of specialties from each other may result in different approaches to skin cancer training. Purpose: Our purpose was to determine the type and amount of NMSC surgical training that is received during dermatology, general surgery, internal medicine, otolaryngology, and plastic surgery residencies. Methods: E-mail contact information for residency program directors of all accredited programs in each specialty was compiled through the American Medical Association's online residency database. A total of 920 residency program directors were emailed surveys concerning the training of residents in the treatment of NMSC. Results: Forty-two of 920 surveys were returned. All surveyed specialty groups, except internal medicine, had training in NMSC treatment including simple excision, split thickness skin grafts, and tissue rearrangement. A majority of the dermatology and plastic surgery programs...