Responsibility is progressive as a resident moves through the program, ending with the chief year, during which a resident takes full responsibility for his/her surgical service. Each Chief Resident takes responsibility of serving as the Administrative Resident. The administrative chief disseminates information to the residents, is a resident liaison at faculty meetings, and coordinates many activities of the General Surgery resident staff.

Clinical Experience
Clinical experience is gained primarily at CMC, with one optional month of specialized training in GI surgery in San Jose, Costa Rica. Resident physicians receive extensive training in all aspects of General Surgery including laparoscopic techniques, trauma surgery, transplant surgery and surgical critical care. Residents and faculty conduct General Surgery clinic, Endoscopy clinic, and Trauma clinic once a week. Pediatric Surgery clinic is held weekly. Daily work rounds are conducted by each service, and the attending surgeons participate in teaching rounds with the resident staff. One of the services (Red) is devoted to the care of emergency surgical cases (non-trauma) and the surgical clinic cases.


Transplant Experience
General Surgery residents have an exceptional opportunity for transplantation experience with rotations totaling four months at The Transplant Center at CMC. Our chief residents graduating during the 2004-2005 academic year averaged 31 transplant operations each as resident surgeon.

The Transplant Center offers the following programs:

1. Kidney Transplant Program including laparoscopic live donor
2. Heart Transplant Program
3. Liver Transplant Program
4. Kidney/Pancreas and Pancreas-after-Kidney Transplant Program

Laparoscopic Training
Training in basic and advanced laparoscopic procedures is an integral part of the residency program. Surgical endoscopy is emphasized throughout the entire residency with significant experience at each level of training, including flexible sigmoidoscopy, EGD, colonoscopy, and therapeutic endoscopy.

In association with the Department of General Surgery, the multi-disciplinary program for minimal access surgery, Carolinas Laparoscopic and Advanced Surgery Program - known as CLASP, was developed in 1997 to create a clinical and research institute at CMC. It includes all specialties involved in minimal access surgery. This program has greatly added to the referrals of patients requiring advanced laparoscopic surgery and has facilitated the creation of a two-year fellowship in laparoscopic surgery. General Surgery residents and the laparoscopic fellows share ample laparoscopic experience during their training. The fellows work closely with our surgical residents in caring for patients requiring laparoscopic surgical procedures. The surgical residents also benefit by their involvement in clinical and basic science research including writing and publishing of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Another important function of CLASP is to maintain a dry laboratory where residents can develop skills in laparoscopic surgery before experience in the operating room.