Education & Conferences

Educational Conferences

Protected Time

We are dedicated to giving our residents protected time and ample resources to prepare them for their boards and the careers beyond.

Surgery School

This is a weekly conference where faculty are selected to give a lecture to cover the weekly curriculum topic. The curriculum covers all the material designated by the ABS over the course of two years. Additional topics include areas of professional development including leadership, healthcare and personal finances, wellness, and others.

Junior Conference

Junior conference is a weekly conference where juniors are dismissed from clinical duties in order to focus on education. The junior conference focuses on ABSITE and board preparation by reviewing questions salient to that weeks’ learning topic. They also spend one conference per month in technical skills preparation; this is guided by the ACS/APDS surgical skills curriculum.

Senior Conference

The senior conference focuses on the technical and clinical aspects of the weekly topic. Time is spent reviewing steps of the operations that pertain to the weekly topic. Faculty from the respective fields are present to share pearls and pitfalls of the operations as well as cases demonstrating important clinical points. Some conferences are reserved to cover leadership skills, wellness, and career preparation.

Quality Improvement Conference

Monthly quality improvement conferences are a cornerstone of quality improvement in surgery. Deaths and complications are presented by the residents. Open discussion among residents and faculty is intended not to find fault, but to seek a better understanding of the events, to educate, and to suggest changes in management or departmental protocols with the goal of reducing the risk of future complications.

While rotating on specialty surgical services (Vascular Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, etc.) residents will attend weekly educational and quality improvement conferences specific to each rotation.

Seminars

Grand Rounds

Grand Rounds are held on Friday mornings. The entire department is invited to join and hear from national and international leaders who visit Yale to present on areas of their expertise, ranging from diversity and inclusion to clinical topics to basic science research.

Visit our Grand Rounds page for a complete list of our exciting guest speakers.

Seminars in Surgical Research

A bi-weekly conference bringing together researchers across the department surgery. Speakers range from residents and post-doctoral fellows presenting research in progress to grant writing seminars given by leaders in surgical research.

ABSITE Written Board Preparation

Residents prepare for the ABSITE utilizing the new Decker ACS online resource. This innovative new site offers a continuously updated curriculum covering the basic principles of surgery and highlighting new information and high-yield ABSITE topics. The residents follow a hand-picked 2-year curriculum which will covers all the defined category and core topics in general surgery. Topics are coordinated with the Surgery School topic as well as the Junior/Senior conference enabling the resident to gain an in-depth knowledge of the topic at the weeks end. Furthermore, the residents enjoy a subscription to TrueLearn, a mobile friendly question bank covering high-yield ABSITE topics.

Oral Board Preparation

Preparation for the oral boards includes multiple dedicated teaching sessions focusing on format and presentation skills for Oral board examinations. This culminates with annual Mock Orals exams given by faculty, which simulate the Oral boards well and guides the residents in their preparation for this difficult exam.

Quality and Safety Seminar

The surgical residency is sponsoring a year-long course for residents in their professional development years. This course is modeled after the institute for healthcare improvement’s series, and provides trainees with a structured approach to process improvement. It is the goal of this series to prepare leaders in hospital based quality improvement.