Didactic and educational conferences play an integral role in surgical education at the University of Oklahoma. Both department-wide and specialty specific conferences take place on a weekly basis. Department wide conferences occur every Friday and consists of Morbidity & Mortality (M&M) conference, surgical education conference, and monthly grand rounds. Specialty specific meetings include various tumor boards, multidisciplinary care conferences, M&Ms, amongst many others.  

The University of Oklahoma general surgery residency uses the SCORE (Surgical Council on Resident Education) curriculum for surgical education and at least one conference per week is dedicated to department wide review of SCORE modules. Residents enjoy protected time on Thursday afternoons to attend monthly conferences which rotates between journal club, case conference, research conference, wellness conference, and mock orals.

The Clinical Skills Education and Testing Center (CSETC) hosts cadaver labs and skills labs, where surgical procedures are taught by attending faculty to all PGY levels of training. The CSETC comes equipped with surgical skills trainers such as laparoscopic training equipment, endoscopic training equipment, and a robotic skills simulator (DaVinci XI trainer). More details regarding the CSETC can be found here.

All residents are required to receive certifications in Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), and Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS). Residents also receive Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma (ASSET) during the third year of residency. Training in Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS), Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES), and Intuitive Da Vinci Robotic Training are required for graduation in general surgery at the University of Oklahoma.