Located in the heart of New York City, NYU Medical Center is one of the nation's premier centers of excellence in health care, biomedical research, and medical education.

Today, the Medical Center consists of NYU School of Medicine and the three hospitals of NYU Hospitals Center, including Tisch Hospital, a 726-bed acute-care general hospital, Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, the first and largest facility of its kind, and NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, a leader in musculoskeletal care.

The Medical Center is also home to the NYU Cancer Institute, one of 41 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-designated comprehensive cancer centers; the NYU Center for AIDS Research, one of only 20 centers funded by the NIH to promote interdisciplinary studies of HIV/AIDS; and the NYU Child Study Center, which is dedicated to advancing the field of child mental health through evidence-based practice, science, and education. Other NYU Centers & Institutes.

Surgical Residency Training Program

Vision
The Department of Surgery will endeavor to evolve as a model for primary and tertiary patient care services, integrating all aspects of a case including inpatient, ambulatory, and emergency services. The faculty will provide the surgical resident with a progressively graded curriculum of study and clinical experience under guidance and supervision. The surgical resident will acquire a broad understanding of human biology as it relates to disorders of a surgical nature and the technical knowledge and skills appropriate to completely manage patients with surgical diseases.

Overview
The Surgical Residency Training Program is a major academic responsibility of the Department of Surgery, with sections of general, gastrointestinal, oncologic, pediatric, transplantation, plastic, and vascular surgery. The surgical specialties of cardiothoracic, neurosurgery, urology, otolaryngology and orthopedics are separate departments with their own approved residency training programs.

The department serves 441 surgical beds in three hospitals-Tisch University Hospital, Bellevue Hospital Center and the VA. NYU Hospitals Center has a distinguished tradition of providing advanced surgical care for all New Yorkers as well as to those referred from afar. The residency has been designed to provide experience with all the established and developing disciplines of general surgery and its branches as well as the experience with specialties necessary to complete the training of a general surgeon.

Our mission is the development of leaders in clinical surgery. Progressive responsibility is the key element of the NYU residency, with surgical decision- making and responsibility taught in clinical and didactic settings. We stress the scientific method with an emphasis on evidence-based decision making in clinical surgery and the pursuit of new knowledge in clinical studies and in the laboratory. Research is strongly encouraged but not required. Most residents spend two years in basic investigation during the residency and all residents are strongly encouraged in their second year to participate in a clinical research project with a faculty member.

Senior residents receive faculty appointments as teaching assistants in the NYU School of Medicine.

Categorical Program

The basic core of the residency is a five-year program which will prepare the residents for board eligibility in General Surgery. There are 9 categorical positions.

All general surgical residents receive an advanced trauma life support (ATLS) training course in their second year as well as basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ACLS) recertification courses in their third year.

General surgical residency is divided into three sections.

Years 1 and 2: The Basic Surgery Residency.
The first two years teach peri-operative care and technical surgical skills with increasing operative responsibility. Residents rotate through the services of the three hospitals and work under the direct supervision of senior residents, fellows, and faculty surgeons. The clinical program is supplemented by a didactic program in surgical basic science and the academic program of the department.

Rotations are in four or eight week blocks. They include approximately:

* 8 months in general surgery
* 2 months in surgical oncology
* 1 month in neurological surgery
* 1 month in emergency medicine
* 1 month in pediatric surgery
* 2 months in trauma
* 1 month in transplantation
* 2 months in plastic/hand
* 1 month in burn
* 3 months in cardiothoracic
* 3 months in vascular surgery
* 1 month in urologic surgery

Year 3: Assistant Chief / Consultant
During the third year, residents spend two-thirds of their time as a surgical consult and a third as an assistant chief resident on services at Bellevue Hospital Center, and the New York VA.

Their responsibilities include consultation to inpatient services, outpatient clinics, and the emergency room, supervision of junior residents and teaching of third-year students. The year includes general, trauma, plastic/hand, breast, laparoscopic and vascular surgery and additional experience with gastrointestinal endoscopy, as well as rotations with senior resident responsibility in cardiothoracic and transplantation surgery.

Years 4 and 5: Senior and Chief Residence
In the fourth year, residents move to senior responsibility under direct faculty supervision during clinical rotations in general, pediatric, vascular, oncology and gastrointestinal surgery at Tisch.

In the fifth year, chief surgical residents rotate through Bellevue, Tisch, and the VA hospitals on the general, vascular and trauma services. Chief residents have broad responsibilities which include administration of the service, teaching junior residents, organization of conferences, pre- and post- hospitalization care and follow-up of patients, and independent performance of major operative procedures under faculty supervision.

The assistant chief and senior resident rotations provide the base of knowledge and experience leading to the chief residency and progressing naturally from a supervised to a supervisory role.

Preliminary Program

Residents may also be accepted for one or two years of basic surgical training prior to training in a surgical specialty. There are 10 preliminary positions.

Residents who have been accepted into a preliminary program in conjunction with the departments of otolaryngology, urology, and neurosurgery have programs which are designed by the specialty departments.

The two-year basic surgery residency for non-designated preliminary residents is a comprehensive program designed to prepare residents for their area of concentration.

Listed below are the specialty programs in surgery available at New York University School of Medicine. Interested applicants should contact the individual specialties for additional information and applications.

Conferences
The Department of Surgery strongly supports surgical education through multiple conferences. It offers an extensive weekly conference schedule that meets the needs of residents in a variety of ways. Services at all hospitals have teaching rounds and conferences at least weekly. Section conferences in general, vascular, pediatric, oncology, breast, trauma, and reconstructive plastic surgery are held in conjunction with related disciplines. The major conferences for the department include weekly mortality and morbidity and basic surgical science conference. The mortality and morbidity conference has proven to be a particularly valuable teaching experience. In addition, Journal Clubs and Case Review conferences are held on a regular basis in many services.

The Department also supports the attendance of surgical residents at national meetings such as the American College of Surgeons both as chief residents as well as in association with presentation of research findings.

Click here to visit The Department of Surgery.

This article is reposted with thanks to New York University School of Medicine and New York University Medical Center.