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Indiana University School of Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine
Surgery

Education Didactics

Surgery residency is more than just operative skills. At Indiana University School of Medicine, general surgery residents receive service specific, multidisciplinary and department-wide conferences at standardized times throughout the week. In addition to weekly didactic learning sessions, the Department of Surgery has a comprehensive skills curriculum housed in the Skills and Simulation Centers.

The Surgical Skills Center was formally accredited in the summer of 2019 by the American College of Surgeon as a Comprehensive Education Institute. These educational opportunities are essential to the overall growth, development and training of a safe and competent surgeon.

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Curricula by Department

In this weekly education didactic, residents present cases and analyze outcomes while utilizing an evidence-based approach to patient care. Cases from all hospitals with general surgery services are submitted. Specialty services present on a scheduled rotation. Michael G. House, MD, leads this didactic.

The last 10-15 minutes of each morbidity and mortality conference is dedicated to a “minute” update in quality improvement, surgical education, surgical research and professional development. These updates keep residents and faculty in the department informed of all new initiatives and are used to reinforce and advance new processes and procedures.

The Department of Surgery has a robust grand rounds schedule that covers topics in areas of medical knowledge, system-based practice, diversity and unconscious bias, innovations in surgical education and best practice in surgical care updates. General surgery chief residents present a grand rounds presentation to the department during their final year of training. Michael Guzman, M.D. leads grand rounds.

Joshua A. Waters, MD, leads the Resident Education Hour (REH) curriculum from September to June. REH focuses on clinical topics related to the SCORE curriculum and preparing for the annual American Board of Surgery In-Service Exam (ABSITE). A junior (PGY 1-2) and a senior (PGY 3-4-5) present a “chalkboard talk” each week. The junior resident presents the diagnosis and initial management of a patient with the assigned surgical topic, and the senior resident presents the operative management and follow-up. Each presenter is required to submit an algorithm, which is then housed in a shared drive for residents to access when studying for the ABSITE exam. Topics are clustered in 3-4 week sessions. In the last week of each topic, the assigned faculty moderator leads residents through two to three scenarios in a mock oral board session. This allows PGY 1-2 residents to see the structure of mock oral boards and helps prepare PGY 3-4-5 residents for their formal mock oral boards given by department faculty every fall.

Curricula by Hospital

Pitt Conference: Case based education using the Socratic method, walking residents through various surgical oncology and HPB cases selected by Nicholas Zyromski, MD, Michael G. House, MD, and Attila Nakeeb, MD.

Trauma Morbidity and Mortality: Trauma specific case review, focusing on patient safety, quality improvement and near misses, with an evidence based approach to patient care.

  • Methodist Hospital Morbidity and Mortality: Methodist Hospital specific case review, focusing on patient safety, quality improvement and near misses, with an evidence based approach to patient care.
  • Acute Care Surgery Conference: a Virtual Grand Rounds hosted by the American Assocaition for the Surgery of Trauma focusing on relevant topics, new literature and evidence based medicine in the area of acute care surgery.