General Surgery Residency News & Announcements

Hirose-Gram

Dear Surgical Residents,

Greetings and apologies for the delay in getting the September newsletter out. Here are some of the updates to keep you up to date on items we are working on:

• We are investigating options to change or to eliminate the VA CT rotation at the PGY1 level. We have specific learning objectives for that service that we would like to maintain, but the learning environment on this rotation has been suboptimal. We are giving strong consideration to pulling the intern from this rotation. Please let me know if you have any additional thoughts about this rotation.
•  Thank you to all the R1s for the comments during Pat O'Sullivan's debriefing session earlier this month. I appreciate all the comments and we will work to improve. Orientation week was cut in half this year, and it was a major juggling act to fit all the required onboarding activities. We will use this feedback to improve next year's orientation. 
• For those of you with questions about case logging, please click HERE to view a PowerPoint slide deck from last year. More information can also be found on the General Surgery Operative Log Guidelines page on the Resident Portal.
• Please note some upcoming events that will require some residents to be away from clinical services:
• Naffziger dinner (9/19) and loupes ceremony (9/20)
• Society of Black Academic Surgeons (9/28-9/30)
• October Wellness days (mornings of 10/11 and 10/18)
• Please keep an eye out for resident recruitment events—this is an exciting opportunity to participate in our incoming class of interns for next year. Please let me, or any of the education office staff or leadership, know if you are interested in participating
• Please let me know if you would like to more formally participate in any of our residency education projects or efforts, including curriculum development, assessment and evaluation, wellness and professional development, or administration. I know many of you have a strong interest in education and we would be happy to have you involved in our education efforts. 

Thanks very much and all the best for the next month!

Kenzo Hirose

UCSF Naffziger Society Day & Loupes Ceremony

Mark your calendars for September 20th! The UCSF Naffziger Surgical Society, the alumni organization of UCSF Surgery, will be hosting Naffziger Day, an annual event that celebrates the past, present, and future of UCSF Surgery. 

At 7:00am, the PGY2 General Surgery, Plastic Surgery, and Vascular Surgery residents will receive their operating loupes in honor of a UCSF Surgery graduate or faculty member. Naffziger honorees, led by Naffziger Society President, Virginia Litle, will give a series of talks from 9:00am-12:00pm. Lunch will be provided.

In person attendance (in room N-217 at Parnassus campus) is strongly encouraged, though this event will also be available virtually. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Surgical Skills Center Update

The ACS Accredited Education Institutes Program (ACS-AEI) recently granted our UCSF Surgical Skills Center (along with 19 other institutions) with reaccreditation status. This status recognizes the Skills Center's commitment to providing high-quality, simulation-based surgical education and training. Congratulations to the whole Skills Center team on this accomplishment!

Scientific Writing Resources

For those of you who are working on scientific writing projects, please be sure to utilize the wide variety of resources the Department of Surgery's scientific editor Pam Derish has put together. In particular, the Box folder titled Effective Communication of Scientific Research During Surgical Residency contains tools and guidance for developing a writing strategy, writing reports of original research, case reports and case series reports, abstracts, revising for clarity, as well as oral presentations and grants. It also includes resources for preparing CVs, biosketches, and personal statements.

Pam is available to work with you individually as you develop your abstracts, manuscripts, and proposals. Contact her at pamela.derish@ucsf.edu