Didactic Conferences and Curriculum

The Division organizes a variety of CME conferences designed to provide a comprehensive didactic program. Resident attendance and participation in the weekly teaching conferences is mandatory and takes precedence over all other responsibilities. The resident is responsible for submitting and preparing cases for presentation at the Treatment Planning, Morbidity & Mortality (Quality Assurance) Conference, and Mock Oral Exam Conference. The resident is responsible for reading assigned material and completing the quizzes for the Monday Faculty Case Conference. The residents will select and read articles for the Journal Club Meetings. Once a month the resident will prepare a one-hour Topic Conference presentation on a core plastic surgery topic approved by the program director. The resident is evaluated using a numerical score by faculty on their presentations, preparation, and performance in each conference according to the six ACGME competencies. The outcome of these conferences is a progressive growth of knowledge and understanding of plastic surgery principles based on scientific literature review as measured by the resident’s trend of their conference performance scores and in-service scores. It is the administrative responsibility of the First Year Resident to bring all necessary forms and audio-visual equipment to the weekly conferences.

A typical month’s didactic conferences schedule is as follows:

*Alternate with Research Conference (Quarterly)

Although divisional conferences also include education in practice management and health care business, ethics, and medico-legal topics, Residents are required to attend the monthly conferences organized by the UCSD Medical Center Hospitals GME Office (Resident Core Lecture Series). When these lectures conflict with other duties they can be watched on video.

Description of Specific Conferences and Resident Responsibilities

Treatment Planning Conference: Pre-op Case Presentations

Residents will present selected preoperative cases for discussion. The resident is expected to have read the relevant literature pertaining to each case and to demonstrate understanding of the pathophysiology, diagnostic evaluation, and treatment options. The resident is expected to present their assessment of each patient and to present a well-formulated plan for discussion. Preoperative, photographs are required for presentation.  The residents will be evaluated on their performance on the case presentation according to the ACGME competencies.

Resident Topic Presentation Conference

Each resident will present approximately one topic presentation a month.  The topics will be chosen from the list of the core plastic surgery topics or Selected Readings titles and approved during the monthly meetings with the program director.  The resident will prepare a 45 minute PowerPoint presentation reviewing the topic of choice to be presented during the first hour of Wed conference. The residents will be evaluated on their performance on the topic presentation according to the ACGME competencies.

Mock Oral Board Exam Conference

Residents will choose two cases from the previous month’s PSOL (reviewed monthly) and submit those for approval to the program director no less than one week before this conference. The residents will present these cases to the Faculty during conference in a format similar to the ABPS oral exam. The residents will have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge base regarding the preoperative assessment, formulation of the operative plan, execution of the operative procedure, and postoperative management of each of their patients including a discussion of common complications and treatment alternatives. Relevant photographs of all patients should be available for presentation. The residents will be evaluated on their performance on the Mock Oral Board Exam according to the ACGME competencies.

Morbidity and Mortality Conference

This conference is held once a month and is moderated by Dr. Ahmed Suliman as a forum to discuss outcomes and quality assurance. The residents will submit an official departmental M&M form for all incidents with complications in the previous four weeks.  These M&M forms will be submitted by Dr. Suliman to the Department of Surgery.  The residents will submit the list of incident cases for approval by Dr. Suliman no less than one week prior to the scheduled conference. The resident that was primarily involved with any specific case will be responsible for the formal presentation of the incident and discussion of outcomes. The residents will be evaluated on their performance during the Morbidity and Mortality Conference according to the ACGME competencies.

Plastic Surgery Grand Rounds (Basic and Clinical Science Conference)

Faculty, Invited Speakers, Visiting Professors, Fellows, and Residents will be presenting on a wide range of topics during this conference throughout the year. This will be one of the primary formats for coverage of the Plastic Surgery Core Curriculum Topics.  Each resident is expected to give one Grand Rounds Lecture a year on their chosen topic.

Journal Club

This monthly conference is a forum for review of current literature with a focus on improving the ability to critically evaluate scientific literature. The residents each choose 1 high quality article from a recent publication and submit those to Dr. Gosman for approval no less than one week prior to the conference. It is the responsibility of the resident to inform the administrative offices of their article choices more than one week in advance of the conference so that this information can be disseminated to the conference attendees. Additional copies of the articles should be provided on the day of the conference. The resident will lead the discussion of their chosen articles with specific emphasis on the scientific method utilized, the clinical relevancy, and the overall value of the article to the plastic surgery literature.

Research Conference

This quarterly conference is a forum for the discussion of new and ongoing research projects by Residents and Faculty. Residents are encouraged to use this conference as a means to learn about research opportunities that they will pursue during their Residency. Each Faculty member and Resident will be responsible for a brief presentation of their research activities. A discussion of new ideas and projects, research and funding opportunities, and plans for submission of written and oral presentations will take place. The residents will also have the opportunity to present their draft presentations for Senior Resident’s Conference, CSPS, and other scientific meetings during this conference.