Didactics occur departmentally on a weekly basis in a dedicated Wednesday morning session that is inclusive of medical students, residents, and faculty. Trainee education is prioritized in all sessions. We have a “Residents as Teachers” series in which our residents have graduated experiences in preparing educational sessions to help them launch their careers with both content and confidence. Surgical education is a passion for many of our faculty and in-person participation by the entire department is the expectation.

Each division within the department also has its own educational agenda. Residents are included in weekly conferences which span both clinical planning and teaching.

Departmental Conferences:

 

Morbidity and Mortality

Held weekly on Wednesdays at 7:30AM, this conference is attended by all surgical trainees and faculty. Residents present selected surgical complications and review related literature.

ABSITE Review

This conference is attended by all surgery residents and focuses on the in-training exam. Topics are presented by the faculty every two weeks on Wednesdays at 8:30AM. The sessions follow the assigned SCORE topic reading to reinforce key learning points. Several times per year, this session is taught by our PGY-4 resident as part of the “Resident as Teacher” series.

Grand Rounds

Held monthly on Wednesdays at 8:30AM, this conference is attended by all surgical residents and faculty. The focus of this conference is to present current advances in surgical therapy, professionalism, diversity, and wellness. Surgical leaders locally and nationally are invited to share experience and wisdom with the department.

Case Based Review

Faculty present cases for the residents to work through as a group, focusing on standards in diagnosis and therapy of surgical diseases.

Journal Club

Part of our “Resident’s as Teachers” series, research residents take sides on a controversial topic in surgery, presenting key articles to support their “side” of the argument in a point-counterpoint format.

Mock Oral Boards

Senior residents take the ‘hot seat’ in front of an audience of surgical faculty and residents, responding to mock oral board scenarios.

Multidisciplinary Medicine / Surgery Intern Lecture Series

This conference is designed specifically for first-year residents. It is held monthly and jointly with faculty and interns from the Department of Medicine. The focus is high yield topics in patient care applicable to the PGY-1 and passing the USMLE Step III exam.

Rotation Specific Conferences:

Endocrine Conference

This conference is held monthly. Complex thyroid, parathyroid, pancreatic neuroendocrine, and adrenal cases are presented by the endocrine and surgical services (ENT and surgical oncology) for multidisciplinary management.

GI Conference

Held weekly on Wednesdays, complex hepatobiliary, pancreatic, upper GI, and colorectal cases are presented by the medical and surgical services for multidisciplinary discussion on management.

MIS / Bariatrics Case Conference

This Thursday morning conference discusses upcoming cases for the division. There is also a dedicated teaching session in which residents are tested, in a mock orals format, on important topics related to foregut, bariatrics, and complex hernia repair.

Multidisciplinary Tumor Boards

Attended by Medical Oncology, Surgery, Radiology, Pathology and other ancillary services, cancer cases (both general and breast) are discussed. Each conference is held weekly, General on Wednesdays and Breast on Tuesdays. Surgical residents on these services are asked to prepare patient cases for discussion.

Pulmonary Conference

Held weekly on Tuesday afternoon, pulmonary cases are presented by the pulmonary service and thoracic surgery services.

Trauma / Surgical Critical Care Conference

This is a weekly didactic conference in which trauma / SCC topics are presented by the faculty and SCC Fellows. A yearly curriculum of high yield topics is presented by the faculty to all members of the team. The SCC Fellows lead a Journal Club monthly.

Vascular Conference

Attended by interventional radiology and vascular surgery services, this conference is held weekly on Wednesdays to discuss the best management (open or endovascular) for complex vascular cases. This conference also focuses on core vascular topics and serves to prepare trainees for the ABSITE and VSITE examinations.