The TSRA Clinical Scenarios in Cardiothoracic Surgery app strives to enhance surgical education by providing an aggregation of common surgical problems in General Thoracic, Adult Cardiac, and Congenital Cardiac Surgery. The user is given a typical clinical presentation with associated options for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Then there are a series of “what if” scenarios that might influence the approach to the patient’s clinical state. We want the trainee to get out in front of potential problems by thinking about them beforehand.

Users encouraged to take notes on each topic, and they can be stored on the device for future reference. The notes can also be shared with every user of the app through the “Community Notes” section. Other users can comment on those shared notes. We hope to make this a “living document” and encourage a dialogue among the users to enhance the understanding of complex surgical issues. Specific notes and comments regarding the oral ABTS examination, however, are discouraged and not endorsed by the TSRA. Users are also encouraged to rate the quality of each chapter as well as mark specific chapters as “Favorites.”

The Thoracic Surgery Residents Association (TSRA) represents the interests of all residents in training in cardiothoracic surgery in North America. The TSRA works with the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association to improve the quality of thoracic surgical education, keeping that training abreast of changes within the field, and assisting in creative solutions for educational problems.

The material presented herein is, to the best of our knowledge, accurate and factual to date. The information is provided as a basic guideline for the study of cardiothoracic surgery and should be used in conjunction with a variety of other educational references and resources. The TSRA Clinical Scenarios in Cardiothoracic Surgery should not be construed as a definitive study guide for either the TSDA In-Training Exam or the ABTS Certification Exam. TSRA makes no claims regarding the app's value in preparing for, or its contribution toward performance on either the TSDA In-Training Exam or the ABTS Certification Exam. The material is not intended to recommend any treatment to individual patients. Those decisions are left to the patient and their healthcare providers.