General Surgery Residency
General Surgery Residency
Educational Curriculum
Clinical and Scientific Surgery (CASS)
The required longitudinal didactic lectures are held on Friday mornings. This is considered protected time and residents are released from all clinical duties during the hours of 7-8:30 am each Friday. Breakfast is served.
- The curriculum is designed to follow "This Week In SCORE". Lectures are delivered by faculty, incorporating strategies to target different learning preferences. Also included in CASS are a simulation curriculum with dedicated robotic training and mock high stakes in exams, complemented by learning plan development.
Grand Rounds
- Residents are required to participate in a weekly Grand Rounds. The format of this conference varies between case discussions, debates, and invited speakers. This is a departmental conference, attended by all faculty, residents, and medical students. Topics cover priorities for the department and ACGME.
- There are four named lectures (Wheeler, Bednarz, Ellinwood, and Cataldo Lectureships) and frequent visiting professors over the course of the academic year with state of the art lectures.
- Quality Improvement Sessions, which house combined sessions with ED, GI, Anesthesia and Urology, are aimed at optimizing quality and the multidisciplinary approach to patient care.
- The Resident Debate Series is held during Grand Rounds on a quarterly basis. The PGY4 and 5 residents debate each other on topics aligned to controversies in the various specialties.
Morbidity and Mortality
- Morbidity & Mortality conference is held weekly. Attendance is required of all residents and faculty. During this meeting, the residents, with peer and faculty support, lead a discussion investigating a safety event and establishing counter-measures based on literature review.
Rotation Specific Education Sessions
- Each individual rotation provides required conferences that are specialty-specific and led by an expert in that specialty.
- To provide additional opportunities for education in Systems-Based Practice and Patient Care, a Morning Report conference was instituted at the University Campus led by the Vice Chair of Education, Dr. Anne Larkin. The format includes structured case discussions and allows for resident self-assessment, complemented by evidence-based learning in real time in coordination with the library staff.
Educational Resources
- Residents have access (remote and institutional) to all on-line texts and journals provided by the extensive medical library at the University of Massachusetts as well as other texts in the Department of Surgery Resident Library.
- The resident offices at the Memorial Campus and the newly renovated university offices, are fully equipped with new computers as well as print and web based 24/7 access to resources.
- Residents have 24 hour access to the Department of Surgery Simulation Center, which houses a complement of laparoscopic, endoscopic, and robotic trainers.
- All conferences are held virtually. Taped sessions complement additional resources including lecture podcasts.
Intern Knot Tying
At the completion of the PGY-2 year, residents will have logged approximately 360 surgeon junior/first assistant cases (2016-2020).
Graduating Chiefs Case Volume |
|
Graduation Year | Average Major Cases |
2016 | 924 |
2017 | 1050 |
2018 | 1262 |
2019 | 1217 |
2020 | 1205* |
Rolling 5-year average | 1132 |
*Expansion and pandemic |