Educational Program: PGY-7
The PGY-7 year will be divided equally as Chief Resident and Senior Resident at the Nebraska Medical Center. At the discretion of the senior/chief residents and the Program Director, time may be spent as Chief Resident at Methodist Hospital. The goal of the Chief year is to transition the resident from trainee (early in the year) to independent practitioner (by completion of the Chief year) by refining technical skills and clinical judgment. This will be accomplished by promoting the Chief/Senior Resident’s independence and autonomy in directing patient care. By the conclusion of the year, the Chief/Senior resident will be expected to demonstrate independence and competency in the evaluation, diagnosis, and management of the full spectrum of surgical and non-surgical neurosurgical disorders in the inpatient and outpatient settings. The Chief Resident will oversee the inpatient service, including surgical and non-surgical patients. The Chief/Senior Resident will be expected to operate as primary surgeon on most cases. The Chief/Senior Resident will report directly to the responsible staff physician, but is expected to implement non-emergent aspects of patient care independent of direct faculty supervision. The Chief/Senior Resident may implement emergent therapies (e.g., ventriculostomies) as needed for appropriate patient care prior to communicating with the responsible staff physician. The attending physician is to be contacted immediately regarding patients who need emergent operative intervention and will decide, in concert with the Chief/Senior Resident, the plan of treatment.
The Chief Resident will also have administrative responsibilities (with the guidance of the Department Chair/Program Director) for oversight and assignment of duties to junior residents, establishing the resident call schedule, vacation and coverage schedules, and educational programming (including organization and presentation of grand rounds and morbidity and mortality conferences) and will participate in the educational mission of the University by teaching junior residents, students, ancillary healthcare providers, and other groups (e.g., patient support groups) from time to time.