The number of medical students applying to surgery residencies has declined in the United States in recent years. This has been attributed to the intense pressure and long hours typical of surgery residencies. Surgery training courses must accommodate the highly demanding schedules of residents and provide a way for program directors to track their progress.


In response to this challenge the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI), Intuition Publishing, an e-learning company based in Ireland, and HMI developed BeST Resident (Basic electronic Surgical Training), an online general surgical training course for residents preparing for U.S. and Royal College in-service exams. (IntuMed is the joint venture the partners created to target the professional training requirements of health care professionals worldwide.)

BeST Resident:

  • Consists of 18 modules containing 93 tutorials for a total of 180 hours of online interactive general surgical training.
  • Provides 180 hours of online interactive general surgical training, including case studies and ABSITE-format multiple-choice questions that provide feedback and guide further review.
  • Accommodates residents' and students' lifestyles by allowing them to study anytime anywhere they have access to the Internet.
  • Was developed and reviewed by nearly 200 faculty from Harvard Medical School and the RCSI.
  • Is updated annually by faculty from Harvard Medical School and RCSI.

  • Surgical residents who have used BeST Resident report that the program is a valuable tool for reviewing clinical procedures and preparing for their in-service exams and is preferable to textbooks.
  • Residents in more than 40 surgery programs in the United States and in eight countries around the world have used BeST Resident.
  • Harvard Medical School students use BeST Resident to prepare for their surgery clerkships.
  • BeST Resident has received three educational awards in the U.S. and Europe.