RESIDENCY TRAINING IN AESTHETIC SURGERY - MAXIMIZING THE RESIDENTS EXPERIENCE

Plastic surgery residency programs often rely on a residents' aestheti c clinic to help train residents in aesthetic surgery. The television media may be used to help boost interest in such clinics. We report ou r experience with a local television station in helping to produce a ' 'health segment'' broadcast that chronicled the experience of an aesth etic patient in the residents' aesthetic clinic. As a result of this b roadcast, approximately 150 people responded by telephone and subseque ntly attended a series of seminars designed to screen patients and edu cate the audience about the aesthetic clinic. A total of 121 patients (112 women and 9 men) signed up for personal consultations. The age di stribution and requested procedures are presented. From the data, we c onclude that there is a healthy demand for reduced-fee plastic surgery procedures performed by residents in plastic surgery. The number and variety of cases generated are sufficiently diverse to provide a well- rounded operative experience. The pursuit of media coverage of a not-f or-profit clinic has the potential for generating large patient volume . Such efforts, although very attractive, are not without their own ri sks, which must be taken into consideration before engaging the media in the public interest arena.