Teaching Conferences

Based on the Surgical Council on Resident Education (SCORE) curriculum, our conference schedule is arranged to provide an overview of all basic areas of the curriculum in an organized fashion. The teaching concept is one of repetition as a means of ensuring continued familiarity with subject matter, and reinforcement of the lessons of current clinical cases as a means of clarifying the case as well as relating it to principles of basic and clinical science.

Grand Rounds

Each week all residents and staff assemble for a series of conferences beginning at 7:00 a.m. encompassing a Basic Science Conference, which is designed to cover surgical disorders of wound healing, homeostasis, coagulation, circulatory physiology, microbiology, respiratory function, GI and GU function, endocrinology, nutrition, fluid and electrolytes, response to injury, and other areas outlined in the special requirements (over a 2-year cycle). Then we proceed to Grand Rounds, a major presentation by our staff, multidisciplinary speakers, our Chief Residents, and 3-4 times a year, by our visiting professors. These talks are moderated by the Chairman and his senior staff. We are blessed with many outstanding faculty members who participate in these sessions regularly.

Resident Teaching Conference

Our weekly resident teaching conference is based on Decker Surgical curriculum, and the schedule is arranged to provide an overview of all basic areas of the curriculum over the course of the year. The teaching concept is one of repetition as a means of ensuring continued familiarity with subject matter, and reinforcement of the lessons of current clinical cases as a means of clarifying the case as well as relating it to principles of basic and clinical science.

Each teaching session led by a faculty member following from either Highland Hospital or Kaiser Oakland. Additionally, each week there is a separate resident led teaching session designed to foster opportunities to teach for the senior residents. These sessions intentionally repeat the weekly lesson to provide repetition in the curriculum which we feel multiplies the learning experience.

Throughout the year we have additional critical care lectures provided by a faculty member with fellowship training in critical care as well as multidisciplinary lectures with other departments such as Emergency Medicine.

In addition, each of the integrated hospitals provides a series of conferences typified by that listed below at Alameda Health System:

Preoperative Conference (preparations for the following week's schedule of operations)
Multidisciplinary Trauma Conference
Surgical Case Conference
Multidisciplinary Tumor Board
Morbidity and Mortality Conference

In as far as possible, we have attempted to standardize these meetings by utilizing identical material throughout the system. Further, Selected Readings in Surgery are available for each resident to review at his or her leisure.

The program conducts mock oral boards three times yearly for our senior residents in a format similar to that used by the American Board of Surgery for its certification examination. This activity, organized by the UCSF-East Bay Program, involves a high level of staff participation from all faculty members

Residents are responsible for organization and/or case presentation at the Vascular, Trauma, Oncology, GI, Endocrine, Preoperative, and Mortality and Morbidity conferences. PGY-IV and PGY-V house officers organize, and they and their juniors are involved in, the actual presentations. Handouts are common at these conferences as well as frequent slide and PowerPoint presentations. The use of computer educational and search facilities (Decker, PubMed, Medline Access, Knowledge Finder, etc.) available to the residents at all times has been very helpful in providing recent data for presentations. Attending staff guidance is also available.