Resident Education
The Department of Surgery at Carolinas Medical Center
(CMC) offers a broad educational experience for all residents. This includes extensive operative
experience (800-1,000 surgical procedures as surgeon over five years), varied experience in an active,
outpatient clinic setting, and a variety of teaching conferences directed by resident physicians and
attendings. Resident physicians work with all full-time faculty and with many community physicians who
participate in the General Surgery Teaching Program.
Responsibility is progressive as a resident moves through the program, ending with the chief year,
during which a resident takes full responsibility for his/her surgical service. Each Chief Resident
takes responsibility of serving as the Administrative Resident. The administrative chief disseminates
information to the residents, is a resident liaison at faculty meetings, and coordinates many activities
of the General Surgery resident staff.
Clinical Experience
Clinical experience is gained primarily at CMC, with one optional month of specialized training in GI
surgery in San Jose, Costa Rica. Resident physicians receive extensive training in all aspects of
General Surgery including laparoscopic techniques, trauma surgery, transplant surgery and surgical
critical care. Residents and faculty conduct General Surgery clinic, Endoscopy clinic, and Trauma
clinic once a week. Pediatric Surgery clinic is held weekly. Daily work rounds are conducted by each
service, and the attending surgeons participate in teaching rounds with the resident staff. One of the
services (Red) is devoted to the care of emergency surgical cases (non-trauma) and the surgical clinic
cases.
Transplant Experience
General Surgery residents have an exceptional opportunity for transplantation experience with rotations
totaling four months at The Transplant Center at CMC.
Our chief residents graduating during the 2004-2005 academic year averaged 31 transplant operations
each as resident surgeon.
The Transplant Center offers the following programs:
- Kidney Transplant Program including laparoscopic live donor
- Heart Transplant Program
- Liver Transplant Program
- Kidney/Pancreas and Pancreas-after-Kidney Transplant Program
Laparoscopic Training
Training in basic and advanced laparoscopic procedures is an integral part of the residency program.
Surgical endoscopy is emphasized throughout the entire residency with significant experience at each level
of training, including flexible sigmoidoscopy, EGD, colonoscopy, and therapeutic endoscopy.
In association with the Department of General Surgery, the multi-disciplinary program for minimal
access surgery, Carolinas Laparoscopic and Advanced Surgery
Program - known as CLASP, was developed in 1997 to create a clinical and research institute at CMC. It includes all specialties involved in minimal access surgery. This program has greatly added to the referrals of patients requiring advanced laparoscopic surgery and has facilitated the creation of a two-year fellowship in laparoscopic surgery. General Surgery residents and the laparoscopic fellows share ample laparoscopic experience during their training. The fellows work closely with our surgical residents in caring for patients requiring laparoscopic surgical procedures. The surgical residents also benefit by their involvement in clinical and basic science research including writing and publishing of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Another important function of CLASP is to maintain a dry laboratory where residents can develop skills in laparoscopic surgery before experience in the operating room.
Resident physicians are given the opportunity to participate in many laparoscopic courses throughout the academic year. The courses scheduled for 2006 include the following:
- Laparoscopic ventral and incisional hernia
- Solid organ laparoscopic procedures
- Laparoscopic nephrectomy
- Laparoscopic procedures for esophageal reflux
- Laparoscopic and hand-assisted colorectal surgery
- Additional hand-assisted laparoscopic procedures
- Laparoscopic approaches to morbid obesity
Teaching Conferences
Teaching conferences are offered throughout the week for General Surgery residents and residents rotating from other departments. The following conferences are required:
- Basic Science - once a week
- Grand Rounds - includes Visiting Professors, Surgical Grand Rounds and Multidisciplinary Trauma Conference - each once a month
- Morbidity-Mortality/Quality Assurance - once a week
- Journal Club - once a month
Other conferences include:
- Minimal Access Conference
- Multidisciplinary Critical Care Conference
- Surgical Endocrine Conference
- Tumor Board
Instructional Courses Available to Residents
Instructional courses are held throughout the year under the direction of members of the Department of
Surgery. Laparoscopic skills courses provide residents with the opportunity to practice laparoscopic procedures
in a laboratory setting. These additional courses are available for community physicians as well as
house officers:
- Sentinel lymph node biopsy techniques
- Laparoscopic approaches to morbid obesity
- Laparoscopic and hand-assisted colorectal surgery
- Percutaneous tracheostomy
- Inferior vena cava imaging and filter insertion
- Flexible gastrointestinal endoscopy
- Advanced Trauma Life Support
- Pediatric Advanced Life Support
- Advanced Cardiac Life Support
Educational Meetings
General Surgery residents are granted five work days per year to attend an approved educational meeting. All meeting determinations are made at the beginning of the academic year.
Library Services and the Information Resource Center
In addition to 24-hour-a-day access to the library in the General Surgery office with current surgical journals, Internet access and resident e-mail, the Information Resource Center at Carolinas Healthcare System is available for resident use. The Information Resource Center, located on the first floor of the Medical Education Building, provides comprehensive services to undergraduates, graduates and post-graduate healthcare providers in the eight counties associated with the Charlotte Area Health Education Center.
After obtaining the appropriate accounts, residents and faculty can access the AHEC Digital Library. The AHEC Digital Library (ADL) is an online information center offering a comprehensive collection of knowledge-based resources available from any computer via the Internet.
The available databases include:
- Medline
- CINAHL
- Clinical Evidence
- Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews
- D.A.R.E.
- Best Evidence
- MDConsult
- Full-Text Journals
- OVID
In addition, these resources are also available through the ADL:
- Full-Text Books
- MDConsult
- Stat-REF
- Practice Guidelines
- Drug Information
- Patient Education
Approximately 6,000 books, 500 current journal titles and 2,000 audio-visual materials are held in the library's collection. Current issues of journals are displayed in a comfortable reading area, while older editions are bound and shelved in the journal stacks. When a book or journal is not in the library's collection or available on line, a book loan or photocopy of the article can be requested by interlibrary loan.
Library staff are available for assist with database searches, reference support, and database instruction.
The Information Resource Center is opened at the following times:
- Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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