Plastic surgery chief resident clinics: the current state of affairs.

Abstract

One of the goals of plastic surgery residency programs is to provide effective training in aesthetic surgery. Recently, programs have adopted the idea of chief clinics to provide senior residents with the opportunity to perform cosmetic surgery with an increased level of autonomy. The goal of this article is to characterize chief clinics currently in place and their usefulness in providing effective training in plastic surgery under the precepts set forth by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.