General Surgery Residency
Program Description
The resident training program is fully accredited by the Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Surgery under the auspices of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Didactics
We provide a comprehensive didactic program in resident education. We want to incorporate faculty lectures, resident-led discussions, and journal club over our primary education day, which is Tuesday. We meet at 7:30 a.m. to review both chapters from Sabiston as well as have a resident-led question-and-answer session to present board review questions on that particular chapter. We also use the SCORE curriculum to supplement our knowledge base as it offers articles, chapters, multimedia and questions. Third year residents attend the Advanced Trauma Operative Management (ATOM) course to provide basic training in operative trauma. By the end of the day, all residents have had a comprehensive, organized exposure to surgical conditions of the particular topic that will help lay a foundation for further study.
Surgery Simulation
Dr. Ashley Jones serves as the physician champion for surgical education within the General Surgery Residency Program. Over the past two years, she has been an integral member of a multidisciplinary team focused on securing funding for the simulation laboratory and defining strategies to optimize its use not only for general surgery residents, but also for all Atrium Health residency programs and staff. These efforts have resulted in substantial financial support from both Atrium Health and the Navicent Health Foundation. This funding includes support for two full-time simulation staff positions, as well as the acquisition and ongoing maintenance of new equipment.
While some purchases are still under evaluation, planned acquisitions include additional Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) trainers, ultrasound devices, and funding to support a cadaver laboratory. A key objective is to have the simulation staff hired, trained, and operational, with initial simulation labs running by the end of the current calendar year. An additional short-term goal is the implementation of team-based simulation experiences, with a long-term vision of expanding the simulation lab footprint. This expansion would better support evolving educational needs and include a fully equipped simulated operating room, a comprehensive robotics dry lab, and a cadaver wet lab.
This year, the simulation curriculum was revised to align with the ASE/ACS skills curriculum, emphasizing enhanced feedback and assessment through the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS). This approach has been implemented on a limited basis, with plans for significant expansion through the procurement of additional training equipment.
In addition to the Tissue and Hemostasis Lab conducted in partnership with Johnson & Johnson, several new industry sponsorships have been secured. These include upcoming laboratories with LeMaitre for open vascular procedures and Zimmer Biomet for rib plating. Furthermore, Dr. Jones completed training to become an ATLS and ASSET course director, with plans to introduce ASSET courses at this institution in the future.
Finally, this year marks the inaugural year of the Surgical Education Committee, established to advance and support the ongoing educational needs of the department. Under Dr. Jones’s leadership, committee members, Dr. Elijah Debroux, Dr. Kelly Hand, Dr. Stefan Stofberg, and Dr. Haley Williams have made meaningful contributions to resident and medical student education. Their efforts include restructuring the educational conference, implementing resident educational competitions, developing comprehensive guides for third- and fourth-year medical students, organizing simulation and didactic sessions, securing additional industry sponsorships, and planning the first Annual Surgical Olympics, scheduled to take place in June.
Organization of the Surgical Service
The Surgical Teaching Service is divided into teams, each led by a PGY-4 or PGY-5 resident under the direction of a full-time faculty member. The five chief residents alternate serving as administrative chief resident for three months. Assigned to each section are private attending surgeons in general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, urology, plastic surgery and head and neck surgery. Six full time surgeons, one nurse practitioner and two residents manage the trauma service. In 2017, several more nurse practitioners were added to the trauma service.
A night float system exists for nightly inhouse call with a lower level (first or second year), mid-level (second or third year) and a chief (fourth or fifth year). Each resident is free of responsibilities at least one day in seven. The teaching program for surgical residents at Atrium Health Navicent includes patients admitted through the outpatient surgery clinic and the emergency room. Patients are assigned to a full-time surgical faculty member or to an attending surgeon who has a clinical faculty appointment at Mercer University School of Medicine. Residents assume a major role in teaching and supervising medical students in their eight week junior surgical clerkship.
Research
To help residents sustain their interest in surgical basic science, a research rotation will consist of two months during the residents' second year. In addition, the residents will be involved in a clinical research throughout their five years. Our goal is to provide depth to their education in problem-based learning and improvement, and to provide opportunities to contribute to the surgical literature.
Residency Training
The resident training program is fully accredited by the Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Surgery under the auspices of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). At the time of the RRC visit in November 2010, a full five year approval was granted with no citations or concerns. In 2024, the program added a sixth tier of general surgery residents.
Throughout the five year training program, residents assume increasing clinical responsibilities. On completion of the program, residents will possess the core knowledge expected of all surgeons and will master the fundamentals of basic science as applied to clinical surgery.
Rotations address the areas that constitute the principal components of general surgery, specifically diseases of the head and neck, breast, skin and soft tissues, alimentary tract, abdomen, vascular systems and endocrine system. The program also generously covers the comprehensive management of trauma, emergency surgery and surgical critical care. Educational programs are supported by both our expanding surgical staff as well as an excellent group of private surgeons, all of whom are general surgeons and surgical subspecialists, and all of whom have clinical appointments in the department.
Each rotation is designed to assure that the trainee receives the required experience in all the surgical specialties including cardiothoracic surgery, pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, urology, gynecology, neurological surgery and orthopedics. Experience on the anesthesiology service is also obtained. Additionally, there is a vast experience in all phases of endoscopy. This includes esophagogastroduodenoscopy, colonoscopy, and bronchoscopy. A large number of laparoscopic and thoracoscopic procedures are performed by the surgery residents as well as operative choledochoscopy.
A broad and advanced experience in pediatric surgery is obtained at the Atrium Health Navicent under the direction of pediatric surgeons. The experience for residents includes all levels of pediatric surgical care, from routine hernias, appendectomies and pyloromyotomies to advanced procedures on newborn infants and pediatric surgical oncology. Like most other surgical subspecialties in the program there is no fellowship program in pediatric surgery so all of the "˜good' cases go to the resident on the service. Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital provides a full range of pediatric subspecialties, including a 12-bed pediatric intensive care unit, and a 35-bed neonatal intensive care unit.
Most of the cardiac surgery performed in this area is accomplished at Atrium Health Navicent under the aegis of attending cardiac surgeons. There is an abundant plastic surgery experience. Trauma surgery is emphasized, as Atrium Health Navicent is a Level I Trauma Center. A trauma registry is kept and approximately 250 trauma admissions are entered each month.
Transplant surgery is not performed at Atrium Health Navicent, so to allow residents to have hands-on experience in this sub-specialty; a rotation has been established at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. Each PGY-3 resident spends one month on the transplant service at that institution.