General Surgery Residency Program at
Saint Barnabas Medical Center

The Curriculum and Operative Experience

Didactic Curriculum

The program provides the opportunity for residents to learn, in depth, the fundamentals of basic and clinical sciences as applied to clinical surgery. The basic science curriculum structure is based on program requirements for residency education in general surgery. Additionally, the clinical science curriculum structure is based on a major textbook in surgery. Individual topics from selected readings are scheduled for discussion. The resident is expected to read materials prior to conferences and actively participate in discussions. Preparation of the resident towards successful completion of American Board of Surgery (ABS) qualifying (written) and certifying (oral) examinations is a major goal of the academic curriculum. Mock oral preparation is an integral part of the academic process in the senior and chief years.

Outpatient activities constitute an essential component of adequate experience in continuity of patient care. The surgical resident has an opportunity to examine patients preoperatively, consult with the attending surgeon regarding operative care, participate in the operation and in the immediate postoperative care, as well as see patients personally in an outpatient setting. Outpatient experiences are provided through rotations to the Saint Barnabas Ambulatory Care Center, the clinics at Lincoln Medical Center, and the private offices of the Saint Barnabas attending staff.

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Educational Conferences

The program provides residents with numerous educational conference opportunities. Conferences are scheduled to permit residents to attend on a regular basis. Mandatory conferences at SBMC and Lincoln Medical Center include, but are not limited to, surgical Quality Improvement (M&M), grand rounds, tumor board, basic and clinical science, and monthly sub-specialty surgery conferences. Additional conferences include Chairman’s rounds, critical care sessions and Journal Club.

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Operative Experience

While the overall number of major operations to be performed by each resident is not specified, an acceptable range established by the ABS is from 500 to 1500 major cases over all 5 years, with from 150-300 major cases in the chief year. The clinical operative experience is structured to exceed all minimum requirements for defined category (index) cases and total operative cases as mandated by the Residency Review Committee and the American Board of Surgery. The table below is an example of recent resident clinical experiences:

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