Educational Activities
The general surgery residency program at UNMC places a strong emphasis on all aspects of surgical education and has an extensive educational curriculum in place. We understand that the primary purpose of your interest in our program is to get a good education and it our obligation to ensure that it happens. Some components of this curriculum include a comprehensive surgical skills training program and dedicated half day of conferences weekly. Our skills training program includes both minimally invasive techniques as well as open surgical skills. Simulation is actively being introduced into our skills training curriculum and is undertaken at our state-of-the-art Sorrell simulation center.
Wednesday morning is dedicated to educational conferences and all residents are expected to attend. These conferences consist of grand rounds, mortality and morbidity, resident seminar and case conferences. The resident seminar focuses on the basic science aspects of surgery.
An active mentoring program is incorporated to assist residents with their performance on the ABSITE exam which is known to have a beneficial influence on board pass rates. Electronic educational resources such as Fundamentals of Surgery and SCORE curriculum are available. Also purchased for all residents is TrueLearn, which provides high-quality, exam-style practice questions that are frequently updated and provide detailed explanations to reinforce learning as residents prepare for the ABSITE exam.
Educational opportunities are abundant in various other settings such as clinic, the operating room and on rounds. The educational curriculum continues to evolve to accommodate the current and proposed new work hour rules. We constantly strive to improve the quality and enhance the benefits of our educational curriculum. To this effect, we have a resident education committee that consists of a resident from each year of training. The purpose of this committee is to obtain input from the entire spectrum of residents in shaping the educational curriculum. While the residency environment is in constant flux, we aspire to maintain the highest educational standards so as to provide the residents with best training possible.
Resident and Faculty Seminars
Based on a SCORE-driven schedule, the program engages in a lecture series for one to two hours each week which is presented and facilitated by the corresponding faculty for the topic. This time is also utilized for ABSITE preparation particularly in the months of December and January as the exam approaches.
Morbidity and mortality conferences are varied based on topics including:
Quality, safety and cost: Patient safety and quality are assuming increasing importance in our day-to-day practice. The overall health care environment is now focused intensely on the quality and safety of health care delivery. The performance of physicians and hospitals are assessed based on numerous quality and safety metrics such as length of stay, readmission rates, mortality and morbidity. Residents present patients with procedures, appropriate to their skill level, with complications and discuss how they relate to surgical improvement quality indicators, evaluate and identify places for cost-saving and outcome improvement.
Multi-departmental: Approximately once each quarter, morbidity and mortality is held in coordination with another department in the College of Medicine: internal medicine, anesthesia, radiology or emergency medicine. One patient is selected to be presented jointly with colleagues from other departments who participated in the patient’s care to discuss areas for improvement.
Service specific: For the remainder of the curriculum, presentations are based on a given service. Senior residents from a given service are assigned to present a patient and approximately three complications, previously determined to be educationally beneficial. This is a non-punitive conference designed to improve patient care and provider judgment and behavior by discussing these experiences. This supportive forum allows participants reflect on the entire patient care experience and evaluate it objectively.
The general surgery residency program participates in the Department of Surgery grand rounds which are held weekly on Wednesday. The surgical grand rounds curriculum is robust, covering a wide variety of topics. Typically, it is a one hour presentation given by faculty, either within the department or across other departments and occasionally other colleges, invited speakers, research residents, and chief residents.
While many presentations are geared toward surgical topics, that is not the sole focus. The curriculum encompasses faculty development lectures, College of Medicine guest department lectures, as well as non-medical lectures. Past presentations have included topics such as: surgical palliative care, medical device failure, innovations in robotic endocrine surgery, funding for graduate medical education in academic centers, transforming residency education, risk management for surgeons, and physician sleep deprivation. For additional information and to view current schedules, please visit the grand rounds page.