Surgery Residency Program

The general surgery residency program at HCMC has a long tradition of excellence. The residency program provides comprehensive education in the principal components of general surgery through a process of residency-oriented supervised continuity of care from the time of the first patient encounter to the time of discharge from the outpatient follow-up clinic. The process is reinforced by repetition of clinical experiences in the principal components throughout the different stages of the residency. The surgical teaching staff is highly qualified in all disciplines of surgery and dedicated to surgical education and scholarship. The residency is five years in length with an additional year of surgical research. Each year, four categorical and six preliminary residents are accepted through the National Resident Matching Program.

Chief of Surgery:
Mark Odland, MD

Residency Director:

Joan M. VanCamp, MD

Contact:
Phyllis Squiers, Residency Coordinator,
(612) 347-2849

Length of Surgery Residency:
Five years, plus a year of surgical research/critical care*

Resident Complement
The surgery residency program at Hennepin County Medical Center is RRC approved
for 28 residents in surgery as follows:

*Research and Surgical Critical Care Fellowship

Between the 3rd and 4th clinical general surgery years of training, the HCMC general surgery residents spend one year in the research laboratory. The surgery department at Hennepin County Medical Center is RRC approved for a one year Surgical Critical Care Fellowship. We have approval for three residents to complete this training each year. Three of the four categorical general surgery residents complete the surgical critical care fellowship in addition to critical care related research, and one resident spends the year working on their own projects or ongoing clinical or laboratory studies in the Minneapolis Medical Research foudation animal laboratory facilities.

The residents completing the critical care fellowship are certified and become eligible to sit for the Critical Care Boards after passing their Boards in general surgery.

Application Process and Interviews
HCMC receives applications only through ERAS.

Interviews are by invitation only. Application material will be accepted through November
30th. Candidates that are selected to be invited for a personal interview are notified through ERAS e-mail. Interviews will be conducted in December and January. You may contact the surgery residency coordinator, Phyllis Squiers, for further questions on the application process.

Curriculum

First Year
During the first year, the general surgery and preliminary surgery residents have the same experience rotating through the surgical services, Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. The year is divided as follows: Surgical services 10 months; Emergency Medicine 1 month; and Internal Medicine - 1 month.

Second Year
During the second year, all residents rotate through three of the four general surgical services including vascular access surgery, neurosurgery and plastic and burn surgery.

Each of the four general surgical services (red, blue, purple, and silver) serves as the in-house trauma service for a 24-hour period, rotating on-call responsibility every fourth day. In addition to the on-call trauma and emergency functions, each service includes one or more specialty services. Inclusion of these specialties intensifies the experience of the resident on these services. It also makes for greater efficiency in meeting the complex emergency surgical needs of the institution.

During the second year, the residents also rotate through the neurosurgery service; the emphasis of this experience is on the management of head injury and spinal cord trauma. An equal amount of time is spent on the plastic and burn surgery service, where the residents have ample opportunity to treat critical burn patients and gain experience in reconstructive surgery.

Third Year
From the third through the fifth year of the training program, all clinical rotations are three months in duration.

In the third year, the resident has the opportunity to be a chief resident in the Emergency Medicine Dept. and serves as the "pit boss" working with the Emergency Medicine staff. Each resident has the opportunity to be chief resident in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit.

The first two off-campus rotations are during this year. The Park Nicollet Medical Center where the resident receives experience with both inpatient and outpatient general surgery and the Cambridge Hospital where the resident works with HCMC faculty members receiving experience in endoscopy procedures and general surgery. The rotations are:

• Critical Care - 3 months.
  
• Emergency Medicine chief resident - 3 months.
  
• Park Nicollet Medical Center - 3 months.
  
• Cambridge Hospital - 3 months.

Fourth Year
The G-4 resident spends three months on the private general and vascular surgery service at HealthPartners, Inc. during this year. The resident also receives three months of intensive training in vascular surgery on an off-campus rotation. Training in pediatric surgery is received from the Minneapolis Children's Health Center and general surgery experience is received on a rotation to Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, a private hospital in Minneapolis. The rotations are:

• HealthPartners - 3 months
  
• Minneapolis Children's Health Center - 3 months.
  
• Vascular surgery - 3 months
  
• Abbott-Northwestern Hospital - 3 months.

Fifth Year
The entire fifth year is spent as a chief resident at HCMC in general surgery. The chief residents rotate through each of the four trauma/general surgical and vascular services and are fully responsible for the conduct of all aspects of each service including preoperative assessment, intraoperative and postoperative care, as well as outpatient clinic follow-up. The surgical faculty closely supervises all activities. The year is divided as follows:

• Red/Trauma - 3 months
  
• Blue/Trauma - 3 months
  
• Purple/Trauma - 3 months
  
• Silver/Trauma/Thoracic - 3 months

Conferences
7:00 A.M. Mondays SICU Grand Rounds
4:00 P.M. Mondays Mortality and Morbidity Conference
7:30 A.M. Tuesdays Surgical Critical Care Lecture
12:00 Noon Tuesdays Surgical Critical Care Lecture
7:00 A.M. Wednesdays Alternate Vascular, Trauma, GI and Endocrine Conference
7:30 A.M. Thursdays Stabilization Conference
12:00 Noon Thursdays Tumor Conference

For general residency information please contact Phyllis.Squiers@hcmed.org, Residency Program Coordinator.