We’ve structured our curriculum around the six surgery milestones established by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), which allows for progressive experiences during the five-year program.
Each year, residents gain increasing responsibilities in patient care, and as chief residents, they lead a general surgical clinic under the guidance of supervising attendings.
Of the 60 months of training, residents complete 56 months at WellSpan York Hospital. Two one-month rotations in Transplant and Pediatric Surgery are completed at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. An additional two-month rotation in rural general surgery is scheduled at WellSpan Ephrata Hospital.
In addition, residents have the opportunity to complete visiting rotations during their PGY-4 year to gain further exposure to the fellowship of their choice. Each clinical rotation has a set of educational goals and objectives constructed to optimize the educational experience.
Faculty will evaluate residents' performance in the operating room (OR), inpatient/outpatient settings, emergency department resuscitation area and clinical rounds.
During protected education time, residents participate in a series of weekly lectures and educational experiences, including grand rounds, morbidity and mortality case conferences, Wednesday morning didactic lectures and skills labs. We participate in mock oral examinations at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center twice per year.
Our fully staffed simulation lab allows for surgical team simulations for OR emergencies (for example, malignant hyperthermia) and specific technical skills (for example, vascular anastomosis). We use state-of-the art simulations including GI Mentor (upper and lower endoscopy) and Lap Mentor (variety of full laparoscopic surgeries). Additional educational opportunities include the Advanced Trauma Operative Management (ATOM) and Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma (ASSET) courses.
We proudly offer robust grand rounds from in-house faculty and visiting physician experts from across the United States. Some of our guest speakers have included Dr. Pringl Miller, Dr. Carol Scott-Conner and Dr. Paul F. Sugarbaker, all of whom are regarded as surgical visionaries within their respective specialties.
