Formal Residency Conferences

The formal curriculum has been expanded to include the "Foundations of Surgery" series for first and second year house officers and the "Clinical Management Conference" for third, fourth, and fifth year residents. The "Foundation of Surgery" conferences include faculty and residents who cooperatively prepare and present the topic with carefully defined learning objectives. The concentration is on the basic science and clinical principles underlying surgical care of the patient. The "Clinical Management Conference" concentrates on advanced principles of patient selection, operative judgment, and outcomes assessment and requires utilization of evidence-based medicine principles. These conferences are interactive and often case-based and are no longer presented in a standard lecture format.

Trainees are often responsible for case presentations at service teaching rounds and certain specialty conferences, and are responsible for case presentation and short subject overviews at Death and Complications Conference.

All three of these conferences are held at times which do not conflict with clinical activity:

• Surgical Grand Rounds (one per month, occurs on a Thursday morning). Resident attendance is mandatory and attendance logs are kept.
• Death and Complications Conference (weekly, held at the same time on the remaining Thursdays of the month). Resident attendance is mandatory and attendance logs are kept.
• Thursday Morning Basic Science/Clinical Conference (weekly). Attendance by trainees is the responsibility of the service Chief resident as is attendance at specialty conferences. Residents are explicitly excused from operative and other clinical responsibilities during conference times.

In addition to these formal conferences:

• A monthly ABSITE review conference is held during which questions are answered using an audience response system to guide discussions of each question.
• A surgical skills curriculum also takes place throughout the year on Thursday mornings for the junior residents. It includes specific training sessions for basic and advanced techniques in open and laparoscopic surgery.
• An informal journal review, which follows the outline of "Selected Readings," is held monthly in the hospital or a faculty member's home. This conference is organized and conducted by trainees.