Weekly educational conferences are held each week during a dedicated 3-hour morning block, with residents excused from clinical duties in order to participate. Residents participate in setting the schedule and choosing topics based on educational goals.
A typical weekly block schedule would include:
- A Death and Complications conference attended by all residents and faculty.
- Weekly teaching conferences, which are collaboratively prepared and led by a resident and a faculty member for small group interactive discussions.
- Examples:
- Junior residents participate in a Foundations of Surgery curriculum to strengthen their knowledge of surgical basic science and clinical principles. Faculty members help residents prepare and discuss their topic. At the beginning of the year, part of this time is devoted to studying Foundations in Critical Care.
- Senior residents participate in a Clinical Management curriculum that emphasizes advanced patient management and surgical decision-making. Faculty mentors join residents in discussing each topic.
Additional conferences include:
- Basic Science Curriculum: Held monthly and attended by all residents. Concentrates on basic science principles underlying surgical disease and treatment.
- Surgical Grand Rounds: Held monthly (usually the first Thursday). Attended by all residents and faculty.
- Quality Improvement / TAPS Curriculum: Team Action Projects (TAPS) are resident quality improvement projects that draw on Lean principles and methodology.
- ABSITE review: Conferences held during the months prior to the exam.
- Surgical Ethics: Quarterly case-based discussion sessions led by the chair of the Adult Ethics Committee.
- Rotation-specific conferences: Examples include multidisciplinary tumor boards and weekly case conferences during which residents present and discuss patients, as well as service-specific Morbidity and Mortality conferences (pediatric surgery and thoracic surgery). The services at the University Hospital and the VA each conduct their own weekly teaching conferences, as well.
Other learning activities include a monthly journal club, where residents select the topics and faculty host the club in their home.