Colorectal Surgery Education in 2040

Abstract The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) recently conducted their 10-year specialty-specific revision of the colon and rectal surgery program requirements. During this process, leaders in our field began to hypothesize what training in our specialty may look like in the future. Here we identify the potential of competency-based assessment through entrustable professional activities (EPAs) in subspecialty surgical education. We also recognize new technology, including AI and machine learning, and its application to forward education in the ever-evolving field of surgery. The key to the future of colorectal residency is harnessing these advancements to create a residency driven by “precision education”: a personalized and targeted education for the individual trainee. Given the growing sources of educational assessment tools and competency data, this opportunity will only exponentially increase over the coming years and provide a backbone for the development of training in the future.