What Is The Showdown?

Cardiothoracic surgery residents are invited to prove their knowledge and represent their institutions in the 2023-24 CT Surgery Resident Showdown, a game-show competition of cognitive skills. Two-person teams of residents will face off against one another in a test of knowledge in five cardiothoracic surgery categories: cardiac, congenital, thoracic, history of the specialty, and decision making. A North American champion will face off against the winning European team during the final showdown at the 2024 STS Annual Meeting. 

Team registration will take place June 1-30, 2023. Residents interested in participating will need to sign up with a partner (an eligible resident from the same program); each will take an individual online qualifying exam. 

All competitors will need to have a profile created through the STS web portal to access the qualifying exam.
 

North American Sign-Ups         European Sign-Ups

 

Who Is Eligible to Participate?

The North American competition is for two-person teams of residents enrolled in an ACGME and/or a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada-approved thoracic surgery residency program. The European competition is for two-person teams enrolled in a cardiac, thoracic, or cardiothoracic trainee program, who will not complete formal training until February 2024 at the earliest (a formal of letter of status signed by the program director will be required upon registration for the qualifying exam).

Congenital and ICU residents/fellows, as well as past Jeopardy/Showdown finalists, are not eligible to participate.
 

Important Dates

  • Team Sign-ups: June 1-30, 2023
  • Screening Exam: July 17-31, 2023
  • European Qualifying Tournament: October 4-7, 2023 (EACTS Annual Meeting, Vienna, Austria)
  • North American Qualifying Tournament: November 2-5, 2023 (STSA Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida)
  • Final Showdown: January 27-29, 2024 (STS Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas)
     

Qualifying Exam

For the exam, individuals will be given one attempt at answering 60 questions in 20 minutes. Individual scores will be combined for each team, and the top six North American teams will be invited to the live competition at the STSA Annual Meeting being held in November 2023 in Orlando, Florida. The top six European teams will be invited to compete at the EACTS Annual Meeting in October. The winning European and North American teams will compete for the championship title during the STS Annual Meeting in January 2024.
 

Prizes

All semi-final competition participants will receive STS-branded merchandise. Winners of the semifinals held at STSA and EACTS will receive paid air travel and registration to STS 2024 in San Antonio, Texas.   

Winners of the Final Showdown will be the 2024 CT Surgery Resident Showdown champions and receive bragging rights, a trophy, and complimentary access to one of the educational archived activities in the STS Learning Center.  

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2023 CT Surgery Resident Showdown Champions