Didactics
Each service holds a variety of educational sessions throughout the week ranging from preoperative conferences to interdisciplinary tumor boards. On Wednesday mornings residents have protected time from 7am-11am to attend formal lectures. Below is a description of conferences available to residents during this time.
- Morbidity and Mortality Conference - Presented by residents each week.
- Grand Rounds - Presented by guest lecturers, visiting professors, or faculty from the Department of Surgery including subspecialty divisions.
- Clinical and Basic Science Lectures - Divided into junior and senior resident sessions:
- Clinical Science Lectures – These sessions utilize the SCORE/ACS Weekly Curriculum. A different chapter is covered each week by a member of the faculty who facilitates discussion regarding common surgical problems.
- Basic Science Lectures – These lectures follow a case-based approach to basic science questions where the mechanisms and pathophysiology behind clinical scenarios are discussed. The sessions are led by various faculty members.
- Ethics Sessions - Every other month, one of the Wednesday morning lectures is dedicated to discussing ethical issues faced in medicine. An article is sent out prior to the session and a faculty member from a related field acts as a moderator for the discussion.
- Skill labs - A skills curriculum is in the process of being incorporated into the didactic sessions on a monthly basis in which residents are given the opportunity to practice surgical skills ranging from FLS training to full trauma simulations in the Patient Safety and Training Center. Residents have 24/7 access to this facility for individual development.
- Chairman's Rounds - Each Friday afternoon, the Surgery Department Chairman, Dr. Richard Freeman, meets with residents to discuss interesting cases from the week in a relaxed and informal setting. This time also serves as an opportunity for residents to get updates about the program and give input for future changes.
- Journal Club - Monthly meeting where selected articles in current surgical journals are discussed. Provides a forum to discuss advances in surgery and develop a systematic approach to critical evaluation of the literature. Discussions are facilitated by faculty, but are often resident driven.
