Clinical Experience & Education
VCU General Surgery Residency Program
Hospitals
VCU’s main downtown campus is the region’s largest Level 1 tertiary care hospital, with over 800 beds and 4,500 trauma activations per year. Surgery residents spend most of their time at this main hospital campus in a broad variety of surgical subspecialties, including acute care, surgical oncology, transplant, colorectal, bariatric, cardiothoracic, pediatrics, and vascular.
The main hospital includes over 35 state-of-the-art main operating rooms and six outpatient operating rooms. A newly constructed critical care tower houses the 28-bed Surgical Trauma ICU, 8-bed Burn ICU, and a 15-bed Cardiac Surgery ICU, all of which surgery residents rotate through. The main campus also includes a new 16-story outpatient pavilion that was opened in 2021.
Resident amenities include call rooms, a dedicated house staff lounge, and covered and connected parking. Dining options include Chick-fil-A, Subway, Starbucks, Panera (open 24-hr), and the Hospital Cafeteria.
Children’s Hospital of Richmond
Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU (CHoR) is Central Virginia's only comprehensive, full-service hospital dedicated to the care of children. CHoR offers a wide range of children's health services, including pediatric emergency services, primary care, specialty and sub-specialty care, burn, trauma, transplant and long-term care. Surgical residents spend their pediatric surgery rotation at CHoR, which is located across the street from the main hospital, and connected via a bridge.
The Central Virginia VA is a 399-bed medical center located approximately 15 minutes south of the main VCU hospital campus. The VA hosts a busy general surgery service that includes common general surgery operations and experiences in colorectal, bariatric, surgical oncology, and vascular surgery. Residents typically spend 1-2 months at the VA per year between the general surgery and vascular surgery services.
Winchester Medical Center is a 495-bed hospital in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. This regional medical center offers a rural general surgery experience for our residents. PGY-2 residents rotate on the acute care surgery service, where they can increase their comfort with common general surgery cases such as appendectomy and cholecystectomy. More senior residents have experience in outpatient rural surgery and surgical oncology. Housing is provided for this rotation through upscale apartments owned by the hospital, approximately 10 minutes away.
Clinical Rotations
Sample Rotation Schedule
PGY-1
Residents handle basic cases, with a focus on perioperative care. Rotations include gastrointestinal/bariatric surgery, acute care surgery, trauma surgery, surgical oncology, transplant surgery, vascular surgery, burn surgery, VA hospital, ICU, and night float.
PGY-2
Residents spend more time in the operating room, with a target of 250 cases by the end of the year. Rotations include intensive care (surgical, trauma and cardiac), endoscopy, pediatric surgery, VA hospital, acute care general surgery, Winchester Medical Center, and surgical oncology.
PGY-3
Residents get community experience at Winchester Medical Center, as well as at the VA hospital, and do rotations at VCU Medical Center on transplant surgery, night float, surgical oncology, and gastrointestinal/bariatric surgery.
PGY-4
Residents rotate on night float and serve as chiefs of service on thoracic, Winchester Medical Center, pediatric surgery, and trauma surgery.
PGY-5
Residents are responsible for education of the junior residents and also serve as chiefs of service at the VA hospital, surgical oncology, acute care general surgery, and colorectal service. Schedule permitting, residents may also get an elective on a service of their choice.
Conferences
Weekly educational conference is 7:00 – 9:15am on Thursday mornings and is comprised of case conference (M&M), Grand Rounds, and resident-led core didactic teaching. The didactic teaching portion is dedicated to basic science and utilizes the SCORE curriculum.
Conference is a hybrid format and teleconferenced to faculty and residents at the Winchester and VA sites.
Following Thursday's conference, Program Leadership holds a class meeting by PGY level where issues can be discussed bi-directionally.
The chief review is held 5:00 – 6:00pm on Thursday nights and is run by the chief residents. It focuses on ABSITE, SESAP, and oral board review.
Additionally, each division has its own weekly conference where cases are reviewed. Divisional conferences also focus on education and quality assurance.