Didactic training

Clinical conferences, seminars, small discussion groups, journal clubs, and one-on-one instruction are integral parts of the General Surgery Residency. All residents are required to attend our weekly morbidity and mortality conferences and Monday evening Department of Surgery Education Conference. Friday morning sessions are held every week in simulation centers for the benefit of PGY-1 trainees, and their time for this is universally protected.

During each subspecialty rotation, you also attend that subspecialty's weekly schedule of journal clubs, didactic presentations, and conferences dealing with patient management problems, mortality, and morbidity.

You are encouraged to attend regional or national general surgery meetings sponsored by Mayo Clinic, and most residents attend the Minnesota Surgical Society meeting one or more times in the five-year period.

Other didactic training during the residency includes:

• Surgical basic science program. You receive basic science instruction in topics such as wound healing, immunology, infections, and organ system pathophysiology. All residents are expected to attend this weekly session held on Monday afternoons before the Department of Surgery Education Conference.
• Trauma, critical care, and general surgery. Your PGY-1 trauma, critical care, and general surgery rotation includes formal lectures as well as daily informal sessions on any number of topics in trauma and critical care. Mayo trauma, critical care, and general surgery staff members (board certified in both critical care and general surgery) actively participate in educating residents and students about all facets of trauma and critical care.
• Surgical critical care program. During PGY-1 and PGY-2, your surgical critical care rotations include daily learning about the fundamentals of critical care management. Mayo Clinic has a high volume of tertiary care patients, so you have broad exposure to nearly all aspects of critical care. Additional senior-level rotations in cardiothoracic, vascular, pediatric, and general surgery allow residents to mature their intensive care skills throughout their training.
• Advanced Trauma Life Support certification. As a PGY-1 resident, you have the opportunity to become certified in the American College of Surgeons' Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program. A recertification course is offered during PGY-3 and residents who are interested can also undergo training to become an ATLS instructor.
• Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma. Each resident will have the opportunity to participate in the Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma (ASSET) course at least once. This course, which is designed by the American College of Surgeons, provides the chance to perform trauma exposures on cadaveric tissue.
• Basic Surgical Critical Care Assessment and Management. The BSCAM course is a Mayo Clinic-designed and run training course for all PGY-1 residents in preparation for their time as senior residents running the Trauma Surgical Intensive Care Unit as a PGY-2. This course combines didactic lectures as well as hands-on skills practice in our simulation centers.