Didactic Curriculum

The UNMC Department of Dermatology is committed to high-quality, faculty-led didactics.  Nebraska Dermatology residents will have two half days dedicated to didactics each week.  Specifically, residents will have 8-10 hours of dedicated and protected didactic time per week (7 or 8am to noon on Wednesdays and Fridays), journal club monthly, grand rounds monthly (September-June), hands-on workshops bimonthly, morbidity & mortality conference quarterly, and Nebraska Dermatologic Society meetings biannually. Dermatology residents will also have the opportunity to present and discuss challenging patients at monthly dermatology grand rounds, bi-weekly melanoma/sarcoma tumor board, and monthly multidisciplinary high-risk cutaneous H&N tumor board.

We have developed formal curricula with a corresponding reading schedule in general dermatology, surgical & aesthetic dermatology, pediatric dermatology, dermatopathology, basic science, and professionalism/business of medicine.  We have guest lecturers from the community and other departments at UNMC as well as a funded visiting professor program to bring dermatology leaders from across the country to Omaha.

Our residents are provided with their own physical and electronic copies of Bolognia, Andrews, Elston, and Hurwitz upon starting residency and enjoy an extensive dermatology textbook collection in the resident library.

A general overview of our didactic curriculum can be seen here:

Monthly Clinical Journal Club - A journal club will be held once a month on fourth Fridays at 7:00am in the Resident Library to review previous months issues of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology and JAMA Dermatology, or other relevant clinical journal articles. Residents are expected to review the entire journal and to present selected articles of interest. Residents are expected to attend each Journal Club meeting.

Hands On Surgical Workshops – Held on 5th Friday mornings (and ad hoc at other times) during didactic session time, there will be hands-on surgical, procedural, and cosmetic/aesthetic dermatology workshops. Attendance is required by all residents.

Morbidity & Mortality Conference – A M&M conference will be held bi-annually. Residents will work with faculty to select a minimum of 1 case each to present to the department for evaluation and discussion. The conference will be case-based with discussion and QI/root cause analysis as appropriate.

Resident Monthly Meetings: held monthly by the PD, APD, and PC to cover important administrative and other topics for the residency. Attendance is mandatory.

Research Meetings: Departmental research meetings are held biweekly from noon-1:00pm on first and third Mondays. Residents are strongly encouraged to participate, however, it is not required.

National and Regional Academic Meetings: PGY2, PGY3 and PGY4 residents are encouraged to present abstracts or cases at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) during their residency. This is most often done at the Residents’ Forum or Gross and Microscopic Symposium. Presentation at other academic meetings, such as the Society for Pediatric Dermatology, American College of Mohs Surgery, American Society of Dermatopathology, or Society of Investigative Dermatology meeting is strongly encouraged. Residents will also be required to attend the annual/bi-annual meetings of the Nebraska Dermatologic Society. The residents are further exposed to dermatology practice-based learning and improvement and system-based practice elements in these meetings.