Didactic Education

The General Surgery Residency Program consists of a variety of activities that unfold alongside clinical activities. The intention of each of these activities is to prepare our residents for their boards and clinical practice, and acknowledges that the clinical experiences, though robust and ample, may not cover everything that needed in preparation for the future.

Journal Club

Journal Club is an evidence-based review of current practices in surgery and will focus on seminal works that define current clinical practice. In addition, we will highlight issues of professionalism, fatigue and wellness, and ethics during this time.

M&M

Often considered the most important meeting of the week in Surgery Departments, the morbidity and mortality conference might be more aptly named the Surgical Case Conference, as not every case necessarily involves a death or disability. The goal is to review specific cases for the information that we can glean to make surgery safer, more cost-effective, and with better outcomes with each case discussed.

Grand Rounds

A contemporary topic is presented by our faculty or an outside guest which provides a thought-provoking premise for consideration. 

Resident Education Day

For the most part, this time will be used to cover the SCORE curriculum which covers about two years of weekly learning and quizzes. This is a systematic review of the basic science and clinical knowledge needed to operate in all major disciplines and all areas of the human body. In parallel, we will have a clinical case conference that is meant to discuss current cases and dilemmas that occur in real-time in the clinical practices of the faculty. Structured much like a tumor board, the topic will, as much as possible, parallel the basic science/clinical knowledge conference or the Grand Rounds topic of that week. In addition, there is protected time for skills lab demonstrations and guided practice set aside on a regular basis.

On RED, there will be some combined all-residency GME activities focused on four wellness retreats, quality improvement and patient safety modules, cultural diversity discussions, and research topics.

Self-Study

Individual learning plans are not solely for remediation learning. In surgery, time set aside for the resident's own individual needs is part of the discipline that one develops in training. No self-study time is wasted and there are many ways to use it.