Rotations

Advocate General Surgery Resident Didactics

Our residency is truly balanced recognizing that an excellent surgical education has many facets. The didactic component of our curriculum follows the Surgical Council on Resident Education (SCORE®) curriculum.

The didactic conferences include interactive learning from a multidisciplinary team of experts. The opportunities and experiences in a surgical career are very broad and we believe our residents benefit from a broad, well-rounded educational experience. Our experts who give specialty conferences range from alcohol and substance abuse to nutrition, to research, to the legal and business aspects of surgical practice.

Each resident in the program has a personal surgical mentor. The residents and their mentors work together to ensure that every aspect of education and training is considered that milestones are being met, and that career planning is optimized to ensure success.

Each month the residents, as a group, meet with the Program Director to discuss how things are going. Dr Slakey believes that every detail of the resident experience is important – from clean call rooms, to conferences, to optimizing clinical rotations. He has been known to even have these meetings while sailing along the Chicago lakefront – an example of our commitment to resident well-being and an uncompromising well-rounded education

Weekly Teaching Conference

All conferences have in-person and virtual options. Because residents have protected time for conference, they are expected to attend in-person unless restrictions prevent. Our conferences are designed to be interactive – in line with our philosophy that residents are actively engaged professionals and members of the department, not simply passive learners!

Grand Rounds

Is held Monthly on Tuesday 7-8 AM.

Pediatric Surgery Grand Rounds (optional)

Third Wednesday of each month, 7:30-8:30.

Basic Science and Clinical Conference

Tuesdays 8-10 AM

Morbidity and Mortality

Both teaching sites have their own M & M conferences. Residents present cases chosen by the moderator. Discussions are evidence-based and rely heavily on review and understanding of the literature.

Simulation

There are state-of -the-art simulation centers at both Lutheran General Hospital and Christ Medical Center, including advanced skills such as robotic surgery. Advocate Aurora Health is committed to excellence in simulation education. Each center is staffed with full-time experts in simulation education who help develop cutting edge curriculum and provide knowledge and guidance to ensure peak performance of our residents and faculty.

Residents have access to simulation centers during regular hours. On Tuesdays, following basic science and clinical conference, residents are provided time to focus on simulation education and skills.

Program Director Conference

Monthly: First Tuesday for PGY1,2,3

Third Tuesday PGY4,5 from 1030-1130

At this conference Dr Slakey and the residents meet confidentially, “behind closed doors” to have an open and honest discussion of how the residency is going. We work collaboratively to continually improve the resident education and experience. Dr Slakey also uses this time to provide mentoring and ideas about a wide variety of the more nuanced aspects of a surgical career – from leadership to ensuring a well-balanced perspective balancing family, life, and career, to respecting others and optimizing communication.