Curriculum

The 4 years of your Ob/Gyn residency training provide an opportunity for residents at each level of training to progressively develop their clinical skills and judgment and to assume increasingly greater responsibility for patient management.

A strength of our Obstetrics & Genecology training program is the annual assessment of our resident’s experiences and quarterly resident assemblies.  We use this feedback to help modify, expand and improve our curriculum every year.

The rotation schedule below will acquaint you with a typical PGY1-PGY4 experiences. The individual resident’s program may vary according to circumstances.

Our surgical blocks tend to be 4-6 weeks in a row to maximize surgical experience, while our Ob, NF and ambulatory rotations send to be more frequent 2 week blocks spread out over the year. This allows increased exposure to these experiences throughout the year. This is one of the ways our schedule is a little unique compared to other programs. Continuity clinics are a full day every other week (rather than ½ day weekly) while on daytime rotations to limit disruptions to the daily surgical schedules.

All of our rotations occur either at Strong Memorial Hospital (SMH) or Highland Hospital (HH) which are located a mile apart, and their associated outpatient clinics.

I wanted a program where I would get great, well rounded training.

Sample Schedules

PGY-1

The major focus of the 1st postgraduate year is on the provision of routine uncomplicated gynecologic and obstetric care in the outpatient setting including outpatient family planning and contraception, management of normal pregnancy and labor, development of basic surgical techniques (suturing, knot tying, incisions), and introduction to basic surgical procedures (simple laparoscopy, dilation & curettage, hysteroscopy). R1s will also spend time in ultrasound which is a very necessary skill in our field and beneficial for evaluating ED consults at night.

PGY-2

The major focus of the 2nd postgraduate year is on the provision of more complicated obstetric and gynecologic care in the outpatient setting including chronic pain, infertility, and high-risk obstetrics, evaluation and triage of patients in labor, evaluation of early pregnancy and gynecologic problems presenting to the emergency department, evaluation and management of postoperative problems in GYN Oncology patients, management of high-risk antepartum patients, achievement of competence in basic surgical techniques and procedures introduced in R1 year, and introduction to intermediate surgical procedures (cesarean section, abdominal hysterectomy, operative laparoscopy and hysteroscopy). R2s will also begin supervising junior residents in the management of normal pregnancy and labor.

PGY-3

The major focus of the 3rd postgraduate year is on the evaluation and management of labor in high-risk obstetric patients (preterm delivery, preeclampsia, medical co-morbidities, multiple gestation, diabetes), introduction to advanced surgical procedures (complicated cesarean section, laparoscopic hysterectomy, complicated abdominal hysterectomy and laparotomy, surgery in GYN oncology patients), and outpatient management of pelvic floor disorders. R3s will also begin to supervise junior residents for evaluation of early pregnancy and gynecologic problems presenting to the emergency department.

PGY-4

The major focus of the 4th postgraduate year is on supervision and competent management of a resident inpatient service teams with junior residents and medical students (supervision of service patients, assignment of cases, team education, liaison with attendings and staff, solving logistical issues), achievement of competence in intermediate and advanced surgical procedures, introduction to robot-assisted laparoscopic procedures, and broadening depth of understanding of medical and surgical illness in women including medical and surgical treatment options. At completion the resident is expected to have sufficient knowledge and technical skill in outpatient gynecologic and obstetric care of women, inpatient medical management of gynecologic problems, inpatient management of labor & delivery, decision for and performance of gynecologic surgery and appropriate postoperative care to be able to function independently as an generalist obstetrician and gynecologist.