PGY 1-5 Rotations
Learn about the schedule and responsibilities for each year of the general surgery residency program.
All surgical services at the KU School of Medicine and the integrated community hospitals associated with KU Medical Center have dedicated attending surgeons that devote their full-time practices to the education and training of our general surgery residents.
With the changes in surgical training called for by the Residency Review Committee (RRC), the KU School of Medicine General Surgery Residency has adopted strict policies concerning work hours, days off, and didactic education. We have also adopted a "night-float" system for handling in-house call in an effort to better comply with the new guidelines.
The first year of general surgical residency is comprised of one-month rotations on the general, vascular, acute care, oncology, transplant surgery services. One PGY-1 per month will be assigned to the "float" team to cover in-house calls during the week. (Float coverage is Sunday through Friday.)
The primary responsibilities of the PGY-1 are the pre- and post-operative care of the surgical patients located in the hospital wards along with assisting and performing simple surgical procedures under the guidance of senior-level residents and attending surgeons.
Non-categorical PGY-1s will assume the same basic responsibilities as categorical PGY-1s, although they will have other rotations in their sub-specialties including orthopedics, neurosurgery, ENT, OBGYN and urology.
The second year of residency is composed of rotations such as breast, "float," SICU, surgical oncology, transplant and a pediatric surgery rotation at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
The second year is highlighted by increased operative and clinical opportunities.
The third-year residents develop more expertise in diagnosis and treatment of surgical diseases and develop increasing confidence in the care of complex patients.
The duties of the third-year resident also include an increased role in the teaching and training of both junior residents and medical students.
The third-year residents serve as the mid-level person on the "float" team and rotate on services such as cardiothoracic, pediatric/general, surgical oncology, and research/elective/global surgery.
During the fourth year of residency, residents rotate at The University of Kansas Health System's St. Francis campus in Topeka, Kansas. This year of training is greatly anticipated by all of the residents, and the learning experience is second to none.
When residents return, they feel confident in handling most surgical problems, and their operative skills have increased significantly. In addition, fourth-year residents are the "float" chief and rotate on services such as SICU, surgical oncology/elective, vascular and colorectal surgery.
The chief year is the culmination of a resident's training. This year is primarily devoted to clinical practice. The chief resident assumes the responsibility of directing a surgical service under the supervision of the attending surgeon. During the chief year, residents rotate on services such as oncology, acute care/trauma, general, and hepatobiliary surgery. They also rotate at The University of Kansas Health System's Indian Creek campus where they are required to do general, breast, bariatric or colorectal surgery.
In addition, chief residents train both junior residents and medical students.
Chief residents are held in high regard by nursing services, medical students, junior residents and attending surgeons.
They have significant administrative as well as clinical responsibility and are relied on by the attending surgeons to provide leadership for each surgical service.