Our core didactic curriculum is a two year lecture series that incorporates all of the educational objectives addressed in the CREOG Educational Objectives bulletin. These didactics are enhanced on each rotation with specialty area educational sessions. In addition, residents also have teaching sessions designed to meet specific needs for each level of training. For instance, basic obstetric skills are in the first year curriculum, operative vaginal delivery skills are in the second year curriculum, practice management is taught in the third year curriculum, and advanced surgical skills and leadership are in the fourth year curriculum. Woven throughout the years is a longitudinal laparoscopic and robotics surgical simulation curriculum. This structure allows residents to focus on the specific knowledge and skills that arise as they progress through their training.
We also believe that it is essential to help residents develop leadership skills. Thus, we include this skill training in our curriculum and as residents move through the program, they actively participate in interdisciplinary teams to enhance patient safety and quality improvement. Our residents are also encouraged to participate in leadership on campus through the Residency Council and graduate level with ACOG. Advocacy is also supported by our program through participation in the Annual ACOG National Congressional Leadership Conference and locally, by Advocacy Day at the State Capitol.
The simulation curriculum that has been developed for our program is taught at the Clinical Skills Education & Testing Center. This 22,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility allows faculty, residents, and students to work together in a safe, controlled and realistic medical environment that includes both human and computer-simulated experiences. In addition to scheduled faculty run skill sessions, this facility is also available to residents evenings and weekends for individual practice.
Another unique educational opportunity that has been specifically designed in our program is an evidence based medicine curriculum. We believe that, not only should we practice evidence based medicine, we should strive to train physicians who will help create this evidence for the future of our specialty. Through this curriculum, we teach residents the skills necessary to read and interpret the literature, to understand statistical analysis, and to develop well designed research projects. It is our philosophy that this is an essential part of resident training regardless of the type of practice graduates pursue.