LAUSR

Transplantation surgery, although established more than 60 years ago, has not lost its complexity, challenge and fascination. Unlike any other field, transplantation offers a successful treatment for many end-stage organ diseases in a multidisciplinary approach. Worldwide, more than 100 000 solid organ transplants are performed every year with 80 000 kidney, 24 000 liver, 6000 hearts, 4000 lungs, and 2500 pancreas transplants. Although numbers have increased steadily, the availability of organs is only satisfying less than 10% of the global needs. Transplant surgery does not only come with surgical complex procedures and treatments but also with a working schedule that is not always predictable. Although quality of life aspects may not be perfectly lined up in transplant surgery and have deterred some from choosing the field, there is an obvious and unique gratification from patients experiencing the gift of life, in addition to an exciting field of clinical and experimental research. Career aspirations of potential transplant trainees revealed that only few envisioned practicing transplant surgery long-term and many did not want to apply for transplant surgery positions only, however, preferred practicing transplant surgery in parallel to a second specialty. At the same time, surgical trainees appreciate training programs with an exposure to transplant surgery and the participation in donor runs with a unique anatomical experience. Although the fascination for transplant surgery continues on many levels, many trainees are deterred from choosing this field as the intensity of on-call commitment,