Learning Resources

The educational conferences provide residents with a Socratic approach to surgical education. Conferences are presented by residents, faculty and visiting professors.

The transition from medical student to surgical intern often causes tremendous anxiety. The Surgical Intern Survival Skills curriculum is designed to alleviate much of this anxiety through a series of lectures and interactive sessions. Topics include an introduction to pharmacology, common surgical complications, and emotional intelligence and resilience.  

 

Residents at the PGY-3 through PGY-5 levels participate in mock oral examinations given by the Houston Methodist Department of Surgery faculty. These mock examinations prepare upper-level residents for the American Board of Surgery certifying examination.

 

The Surgical Council on Resident Education (SCORE) curriculum encompasses a listing of patient care topics covered during the five-year residency in general surgery. The conference is held in a small team format and each team includes attending surgeons and PGY-1 through PGY-5 residents.

 

Morbidity and Mortality Conference is a key teaching conference during which complications are presented by residents and discussed by faculty and residents. The complications presented are discussed with an emphasis on the current literature and are designed to promote an educational discussion.

 

Journal Club is held once a month, typically at a faculty member’s home, and centers on the presentation of new clinical and scientific information. Each month, junior and senior residents are responsible for presenting the articles. Faculty are present to aid in the discussion of the articles.

 

Grand Rounds are designed to keep surgeons and other healthcare professionals abreast of new surgical knowledge, surgical procedures and patient care issues. This weekly conference is presented by senior residents, surgical faculty, non-surgical faculty and visiting professors.

 

The Houston Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation & Education (MITIE) houses a comprehensive training facility for teaching both open and laparoscopic surgical skills, flexible endoscopy, and critical care procedures such as airway management, central line placement and invasive cardiac monitoring. As part of the conference schedule, resident levels alternate through the laboratory.

 

The Inanimate Skills Laboratory is centrally located on the fourth floor of Houston Methodist Hospital, in the Fondren wing. Residents and fellows are given 24-hour access so that each can work at their own pace and on their own schedule.

 

Houston Methodist also offers numerous discipline-specific conferences, such as thoracic, gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary.