Trainee experience

The Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant General Surgery Fellowship prepares individuals for professional practice in the outpatient and inpatient surgical care unit settings.

During this program, learning experiences allow the fellow to:

• Enhance knowledge and acquire practical skills of assessment, evaluation, diagnosis, intervention, and treatment outcome for various perioperative disorders
• Improve critical-thinking skills in comprehensive care
• Develop self-directed skills to maintain updated clinical knowledge and practice guidelines
• Improve time management (multitasking and triaging as appropriate)
• Develop and enhance bedside procedures and skills
• Foster leadership

Clinical training and rotations

Possible fellowship rotations include:

• Breast and melanoma surgical oncology surgery
• Colon and rectal surgery
• Community surgery
• Emergency general surgery
• Endocrine and metabolic surgery
• Thoracic surgery
• Hepatobiliary and pancreas surgery
• Non-vascular wound
• Oral and maxillofacial surgery
• Pediatric surgery
• Plastic surgery
• Trauma surgery
• Vascular and endovascular surgery

Didactic course work

The Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant General Surgery Fellowship includes lectures, modules, Grand Rounds, and educational conferences.

Curriculum enhancements

Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences is committed to developing and maintaining the best education programs. The curriculum and other aspects of this program are assessed routinely and changed as necessary to ensure the highest quality training.

Schedule and hours

For the majority of the fellowship, your learning schedule includes varying shift lengths and rotating shifts, weekend shifts, and holiday shifts. You spend approximately 40 to 50 hours each week in the hospital and/or clinic setting. This does not include additional time spent on readings.

Department and faculty

The Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant General Surgery Fellowship is coordinated and taught by the clinical, scientific and technical staff of Mayo Clinic. Faculty members are chosen for their commitment to teaching, as well as clinical practice and research. Many have published and lectured extensively and are highly regarded in their fields.

You have direct access to these individuals throughout your training, giving you the opportunity to learn from experienced critical care practitioners.

Visiting professors and lecturers

A hallmark of higher education excellence is the breadth and depth of information and experience provided to students by faculty and visiting experts. Many prominent professors visit Mayo Clinic each year to lecture on their areas of medical and scientific expertise.

As a student of Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, you are encouraged to learn from these valuable resources by attending all conferences, lectures and seminars prepared for students, interns, residents, fellows and consulting staff.

Facilities

Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, includes an extensive outpatient complex, Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester, and substantial research and education facilities. This Mayo Clinic site is among the largest, most advanced medical centers in the world.

Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester has one of the largest surgical suites in the nation with more than 120 operating rooms. Each year, Mayo Clinic surgeons perform nearly 50,000 surgical procedures — about 200 a day — at the hospital's two campuses. The vast number and type of surgeries, in combination with a highly educated faculty, make Mayo Clinic an ideal educational setting for students in surgical training programs.

• Learn more about Mayo Clinic Health System.

Evaluation

Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences uses these evaluative tools:

• Written examination
• Demonstration of skills
• Self-assessment exercises
• Faculty reviews
• Project participation, formal presentations or publications

Mayo Clinic's system of evaluation provides students and faculty with a comprehensive look at individual performance. This allows faculty and administrative staff to direct students who are experiencing academic difficulty to the appropriate support resources, including tutoring programs and counseling opportunities.

Graduation and certification

Upon graduation, you receive a certificate from Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences documenting completion of a one-year postgraduate fellowship in general surgery. This certificate verifies that you have completed all the components listed in the syllabus. Such experience and training will allow you to be a more competitive applicant for future surgical roles.